Law enforcement learn new skills at MBI training
Law enforcement learn new skills at MBI training
Published 6:44 pm Wednesday, November 5, 2025
More than 100 law enforcement officers from throughout the state were in Meridian Wednesday as Meridian Police Department, Meridian Community College Police Department and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation partnered to host a day of training at the MCC Riley Workforce Development Center.
Jeffrey Willis, director of training for MBI, said officers learned a variety of skills and tactics such as digital forensics, operating a crime scene unit, gang violence, fingerprints, how to respond to an officer-involved shooting and more.
“This enables law enforcement officers to continually enhance their jobs and their professionalism as they go throughout their law enforcement career,” he said. “So it’s very important as law enforcement officer to continuously train throughout their professional career and even in their personal life to better themselves so that they can better serve their agencies and their communities that they serve.”
To help, MBI put together a training initiative available to law enforcement agencies in all 82 Mississippi counties upon request, Willis said. Joining forces with Meridian Police Chief Malachi Sanders and MCC Police Chief Joshua May to hold Wednesday’s training in Meridian was a great success, he said.
Training local law enforcement has immediate benefits to the community and local agency, but it also helps when state and local agencies need to work together. As a state agency, MBI is often requested to come in and assist with local investigations or take over investigations if needed.
In those situations, Willis said, the training local officers have received makes a difference.
“When we come out and provide free training, that enables officers to obtain knowledge and skills that they may not have had or attain knowledge and skills that they already have, and it just adds to it,” he said. “So that makes it easier for us when we come in to assist these agencies that everybody, at that point, is on the same page.”
Willis said training with officers from different agencies also creates new relationships between officers and agencies that can be invaluable when a need arises. Those connections can help boost officers’ efforts and aid in finding a missing person or solving a crime, he said.
“It also builds a partnership and helps us network so whenever there’s a need for something or whenever we’re trying to locate a person or just solve any type of crime, we all can function as one unit because we’ve trained together,” he said.
Meridian Mayor Percy Bland said the city was glad to be able to host Wednesday’s training and welcome law enforcement from all over the state. The training covered a wide range of topics, he said, including crime scene investigation, fingerprinting and more.
“We’re just glad Meridian Police Department was able to be a partner with MBI today,” he said.