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Southwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy
100 E Walnut St
C.K. Newsome Building - Lower Level
Evansville, IN 47708
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  • Phone:  (812) 436-7938
  • Fax:  (812) 436-6033
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Southwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy

SWILEA Academy Class 25-37 will begin with entrance PT testing on January 20th, 2025. This class is full.

 SWILEA Academy Class 25-38 will begin with entrance PT testing on July 21st, 2025. This class is at capacity at the moment. 

We are currently taking registrations for class 26-39 that will start on January 19th, 2026. 

Registration for classes will be handled by submitting a request with all recruit information to-

SWILEA Commander at kday@evansvillepolice.com.   

SWILEA Director at jlafollette@evansvillepolice.com.

Recruits must be full time sworn officers/deputies at the time the request is submitted.  Departments will be notified in a timely manner of the recruits that have been accepted. Notification of registration by the agency does not automatically guarantee a spot in the academy.  Agencies will be notified if they have or have not been accepted based on the number of agencies desiring spots and the number of spots available.  That determination is usually not able to be made until approximately 2 months from the start of the upcoming academy.

Cost to attend:

  • SWILEA tuition is $500 payable to the Evansville Police Department. This is an agency fee and is not paid by the student.
  • The agency is not billed until the student passes then entrance physical fitness test.
  • There are no agency refunds once the student has been admitted into the academy.
  • Mandatory academy uniforms and ammunition requirements will be sent to all participating agencies upon acceptance to session. 
  • SWILEA will no longer be able to accept part-time Officers or Deputies.  All recruits must be full-time sworn Officers/deputies.
  • SWILEA does NOT accept officers or deputies that serve their agencies in a Reserve status. 

A brief overview of SWILEA training:

  • 18 weeks with over 600 hours of training (8a – 4p, M – F, most holidays off)
  • Classroom instruction combined with scenario based/sims style training
  • SWILEA is geared toward training officers/deputies for solo patrol who can work anywhere in Indiana
  • Most instructors are officers and deputies who are actually working in the field they are instructing
  • SWILEA’s curriculum is approved by the Indiana LETB
  • Academy class size is capped at 30 students.  This allows for ample one on one instruction with the students.  It also allows the academy instructors to get to know each student on a personal basis.
  • SWILEA students are trained and/or certified in SFST, STOPS, TOPS and NIMS ICS 100, 200 and 700
  • SWILEA will have two sessions per year starting sometime in January or February and July
  • SWILEA offers several days of scenario based training at off site locations for different types of training. 

Major areas of training covered at SWILEA (including the six mentioned above) are:

  • Report writing
  • Domestic violence
  • Criminal, misdemeanor and traffic law
  • Firearms (handgun, shotgun and patrol rifle)
  • Patrol techniques
  • Building searches/active shooter
  • Water safety
  • Crime scene
  • Narcotics
  • Defensive tactics
  • EVO
  • Working around Police K-9s
  • EMS awareness
  • Crash investigations