Menlo Park welcomes new police recruits Michael Sammut, Brandon Pena and Vaneesh Kumar. The three will attend the Basic Police Academy at the College of San Mateo campus for the next six months. The Basic Police Academy is offered by the South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium, also known
as The Academy. This intensive police-training program consists of both written and physical abilities tests.

The California Commission on Peace Officers Standards (POST) requires police officers to receive initial foundation training and information on specific topics. This curriculum contains 42 individual topics, called learning domains. Following graduation in January 2020, they will begin further field training locally where they will be paired with field-training officers for several months.

Sammut, Pena, and Kumar are paired with police officers who are considered their mentors and offer assistance in areas that they may need additional help or training while attending the police academy. The Police Department successfully sponsored eight current police officers through the academy in the last year. The department continues to recruit talent from diverse backgrounds, work/life experience as well as education levels to meet the needs of our growing community.