By John Howell
City officials quickly approved a 12-item consent agenda during their February 2 meeting. Only one of the requests — a “Narcotics, Vice and Street Crimes Supervisors Training” session was questioned and that was because of the location — Las Vegas, Nevada.
Deputy Police Chief Jimmy McCloud told Alderman Bill Dugger, responding to his question, that there was, “not any training we could find closer,” for the training.
“A nearby community got featured on 60 Minutes,” McCloud said, for mishandling an investigation of the nature that the training will address.
“It’s a critical need,” said McCloud.
Two Batesville Police Department officers and a Panola County Deputy Sheriff will travel together to attend the week-long training session in April, the consent agenda states.
The consent agenda usually includes a list of requests for outside training compiled for each meeting by city department heads. The consent agenda includes items that are routinely approved and involve little or no discussion. Consideration of all the items on the list at one time and approval of the requests with one vote by aldermen is intended to expedite the city officials’ lengthy meetings.
The February 2 Consent Agenda included three more requests from BPD. A detective will attend a “Cyber Crimes, Human Trafficking and School Safety and Security” session at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers’ Training Academy in Pearl. Two officers will undergo  Standard Field Sobriety Testing Training in Hernando.  Two officers will attend Basic Narcotics Investigation Training in Meridian at the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy in Meridian.
The Batesville Fire Department had five requests on the consent agenda: training for a fireman in the “Rope I” class at the Mississippi Fire Academy; training for a fireman at the Mississippi Fire Investigators Spring Seminar in Tunica, training for five firemen on two separate dates at the Fire Department Safety Officer Class at the Mississippi Fire Academy, training for one fireman in the Fire Apparatus Driver/Operator course, also at the fire academy.
The consent agenda that was approved unanimously also included approval for city officials and personnel to attend the Annual Mississippi Municipal League Conference in June,  for city officials to attend the Federal Resource Workshop in Greenwood during February and for city officials to attend the GulfSouth Idea Exchange in Mobile in March.