CMPD is making changes to its training academy after a recruit died
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is making changes to its training academy — including giving each recruit a water bottle — after a state review found that the department was in violation of labor laws.
The review was sparked by the death of 29-year-old police recruit Jeremy Moseley, who collapsed in early July during state-required fitness training. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Moseley had been hired by CMPD just more than a week previous.
The N.C. Department of Labor is fining the police department $7,000, saying CMPD did not provide water to recruits and didn’t encourage breaks despite asking them to physically exert themselves in a hot environment.
Here’s what CMPD is changing:
- Training academy staff will be briefed on heat index guidelines and trained on how to recognize heat-related illnesses.
- Recruits will be briefed on safety and health issues and given water bottles. A 5-gallon jug of water will also be available to them.
- The police department will use the OSHA mobile app that detects the temperature and humidity and tells you what the risk is of heat-related illness — and follow guidelines on how to acclimate recruits to the heat.
CMPD is also disputing some of the state’s findings, believing that some of Moseley’s underlying medical conditions were more to blame than the training academy environment. Moseley had asthma and was taking herbal dietary supplements, CMPD says.