Units provide additional training for law enforcement
By Jessica Brown
Photos/Special to The Source
Retired Jacksonville Police Department Deputy Chief Rodney Cox took on a position with Mobile Training Unit 9 earlier this summer.
Also known as MTUs, Mobile Training Units are nonprofit entities formed by a combination of units of local government to implement training to local and state law enforcement officers.
The West Central Illinois Criminal Justice Council, stationed in Jerseyville and operating as Mobile Team Unit 9 (MTU 9), provides training for local law enforcement and correctional officers across 11 counties in West Central Illinois, including Morgan County.
Cox, who has been with the Jacksonville Police Department since 1996, became director of the Mobile Training Unit 9 in July. Having worked his way up the ranks at the JPD from bicycle patrolman to administrative deputy chief, Cox says his role in the last four years was what prepared the most for his transition.
“After being a patrolman, I went on to be sergeant, lieutenant, lieutenant of investigations and finally, administrative deputy chief for 11 years” he says, adding that he was the department’s training coordinator as well. “I was the department’s training coordinator and served on the MTU 9’s Board for the last four years.”
Directors of MTUs such as Cox facilitate and coordinate training classes among the different police agencies. These mostly consist of smaller, less populated areas where agencies often lack sufficient budgets to allow non-mandatory
classes for their officers. Courses such as SWAT team training or specialized firearms training are often just some of the extra training courses offered. Mobile Team In-Service Training exists to help bear the financial burden so that travel and course costs don’t preclude an agency’s participation.
Since MTUs are nonprofit, charitable entities, they often utilize grants. “We get a majority of funding from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board,” Cox shares. Also known as ILETSB, the money it contributes makes it possible for officers to attend courses like the SWAT class being taught in Quincy.
“There is a current Jacksonville [Police Department] officer and a retired JPD officer teaching that one,” Cox says, adding that MTU 9 is paying for that course from special grant money he has earmarked.
Several west central communities, like Mount Sterling in Brown County, will receive — or have already received — course training in active shooter response. The police agency there petitioned MTU 9 to help with that and Cox said he didn’t hesitate. “Agencies say they want that training and we set it up … [that] will involve instruction on being part of a rescue task force with fire and EMS personnel involved.”
Communities like Roodhouse, White Hall, some in Green County and any other agencies can come to these, too, Cox adds, sharing that each separate agency pays for the courses from dues they’ve paid to the MTU previously.
It’s the main role of an MTU’s director to coordinate and facilitate the courses officers take. “In my new role, I coordinate training with other instructors from different agencies for 11 counties from Schuyler all the way to Jerseyville, over to Adams and Morgan and everywhere in between,” Cox says, adding that he helps get instructors set up and ready for the courses they will teach.
His time on the MTU Board at the Jacksonville Police Department helped prepare him for his role as director of MTU 9, he says. “I’m doing what I did there, like coordinating training and making sure everyone kept up with mandated training, and now I’m doing it for 11 counties.” Cox shares that there are only 22 people he employs, but he’s director over 750 officers.
Cox says the move from what he did at the Jacksonville Police Department is not so much a promotion as a transition. “I feel comfortable moving into the position with the mobile training unit because of my experience doing mostly the same thing there,” he states.
He adds that he knew it was his time to retire and wanted to stay busy. “I thought about it for a while … and the current director was going to retire in July, so because it was a perfect fit, I applied,” says Cox.
He started learning the ropes of transitioning to the role in March of this year. “I retired on the 15th of June and went to the first meeting of my MTU the next day,” says Cox. He began doing his duties alongside the retired MTU 9 director, Penny Abbott, and officially started his role as the new director of MTU 9 on July 1.
Originally from Pittsfield, Cox resides in Chapin with his wife, Shelli, and their family.
