Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy
The Lively Law Enforcement Academy was renamed the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy in 1996 in recognition of the support shown by Florida Senator Pat Thomas to criminal justice in Florida and for the personal attention he had shown to the Academy in his home county. Beginning with his leadership in acquiring the current site for the Academy in 1970 and ending with his death on June 21, 2000, he was tireless in advocating for professionalism in criminal justice.

The mission of the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy (Academy) is simple and direct: We prepare people to protect and serve. Located 14 miles from Tallahassee on 1300 rolling and heavily wooded acres, the Academy offers a unique, world-class learning environment that provides realistic context to the training conducted by subject matter experts from all areas of criminal justice.

The Academy is certified by the Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (Commission) to deliver allCommission-approved curricula to law enforcement, correctional, and correctional probation officers in Florida. As a regional training center for the Commission, the Academy serves municipal, county, college, and university agencies in a six-county area as fiscal agent for the Commission's Region 3. In addition, the Commission recognizes the unique needs of State law enforcement and corrections agencies by setting them apart from geographically regional agencies. The Academy serves as the fiscal agent for all State law enforcement agencies identified as the Commission’s Region 15.

History of Pat Thomas Academy
Prior to 1967, some law enforcement training was provided in Florida by organized academies in agencies located in the larger metropolitan areas, but most training for law enforcement officers was accomplished on the job. Two problems plagued law enforcement training efforts. First, there was no standardized, uniform curriculum offered statewide. Second, the formal training that did exist was not available to all agencies within a reasonable commuting distance.

June 21, 1967, Governor Claude Kirk signed into law the Police Standards Act. That Act required training be provided according to a standardized program for all law enforcement officers in Florida. It also set certain standards for employment as a law enforcement officer. Implementation of the Act was facilitated using the vocational-technical schools and community colleges already in place, and by incorporating the individual law enforcement agencies already engaged in the delivery of training for law enforcement officers throughout the State.

The Lewis M. Lively Area Vocational-Technical Center in Tallahassee was one of the original locations certified to offer training to law enforcement agencies in a six-county region of the state. A Law Enforcement Department of one full-time person was established and the first 200-hour basic recruit class started on October 1, 1968 in an existing classroom at the Vo-Tech Center. To accommodate the expansion of training programs in the early 1970s, the Vo-Tech first built a portable classroom building and later moved to Park 20 West Office Plaza in Tallahassee where it had three classrooms.

Meanwhile, the Florida Police Academy Act of 1969 had been passed, which called for the establishment of a state law enforcement training academy and created a funding mechanism to realize that goal. Every person convicted of violating a law in Florida, except parking offenses, was assessed one dollar that was credited to the Act's account. All monies collected were for the sole purpose of providing training or for the construction of academy facilities.

To help realize that goal, Gadsden County donated 375 acres of land to the State of Florida to be used as the site for the state police academy. The Act was later repealed in 1974 due to difficulties in implementing the provisions of the law as written but at the time of its repeal, the Act had an accumulated balance of $3,032,852.

In 1976, Lively Vo-Tech was projecting construction of a law enforcement training facility on its campus consisting of four classrooms, a darkroom, laboratories, and office space. Instead, with the assistance of the Governor's Office, the Leon County School Board, the Gadsden County Commission, Senator Pat Thomas of Quincy, and others, the property in Gadsden County was leased to the Leon County School Board for 99 years to be used for regional training.

Once plans for construction were approved, work on the Administration Building of the Law Enforcement Training and Education Center began March 31, 1976. In the subsequent years, the Academy added firearms ranges, driving ranges, an on-site cafeteria, a 64-bed housing facility, a man-made lake, and other improvements. In honor of the role played by Senator Pat Thomas the Academy was renamed the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy.

July 1, 1999 the Florida Legislature transferred the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy from Lively Vo-Tech to the Tallahassee Community College. Today the Pat Thomas Academy is one of 40 certified academies in Florida. It holds certification as a Type A academy, which means the Academy is approved to offer all curricula approved by the Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission to include a series of basic, advanced, and specialized training programs for law enforcement, corrections, and correctional probation officers.

The Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy currently serves 45 agencies including state, county, municipal, and regional agencies that represent over 4000 officers in total numbers.

In addition, the Academy hosts a number of federal agency's training to include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, U. S. Secret Service, Federal Fish and Wildlife Agency, as well as the National Guard.