Queen Creek will be paying Maricopa County a higher registration fee for training police recruits.
An amendment to an existing intergovernmental agreement with Maricopa County will raise the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Sworn Basic Training Academy non-refundable registration fee from $750 to $1,500 per Queen Creek Police Department recruit.
The amendment was unanimously approved by the Queen Creek Town Council at its Oct. 21 meeting. The amendment was part of the town’s consent agenda in which all items are handled through one motion and vote.
MCSO’s basic training academy has not raised its registration fee for five years. The amendment covers a term from July 1 of this year through March 31, 2029. Queen Creek first entered the IGA with Maricopa County in 2025.
“The Queen Creek Police Department relies on regional academy partnerships to provide basic training for new sworn peace officer recruits. These partnerships support the department’s recruitment and staffing needs by providing access to established training programs without the costs and operational requirements of maintaining a separate academy,” a council staff report stated.
The MCSO training academy is one of two QCPD uses to train recruits. It also uses the services of the Gilbert Regional Academy.
“However, Gilbert makes only a limited number of seats available to outside agencies and retains the right to use all available seats for its own recruits. Consequently, QCPD cannot rely exclusively on Gilbert to meet its academy training needs,” the report continued.
The Gilbert Regional Academy charges $2,500 per recruit.
The amendment does not allocate funds, and the registration fee increase is being absorbed into QCPD’s current fiscal year budget.
Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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