Published: May 17, 2008 02:09 am            

Grant Town Chief Matt Biggie completes training course at State Police Academy

GRANT TOWN — Town officials held a reception here Thursday to honor Police Chief Matt Biggie, who recently graduated from a 16-week training course at the West Virginia State Police Academy.

Biggie, who graduated from the program in April, said that the course was extremely demanding. He recounted stories of his training, which included being sprayed with a nonlethal agent similar to pepper spray.

“It was tough,” Biggie, a former U.S. Marine, said of the course. “But I had a good time there.”

While taking the course, Biggie was awarded the outstanding officer for the class, said Mayor Robert Riggs Jr. Riggs also pointed out that Biggie finished the program with a high grade-point average and scored a 100 percent on the firearms course.

“We feel very, very privileged to have him as our chief,” Riggs said. “I think that Grant Town has the best police department in the county.”

Biggie was certified as a dog handler. However, he also brings a lot of other experience to the table.

He had already completed the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department SWAT Training School. He is also certified in narcotics screening and identification, and as a radar instructor. Biggie also has several other qualifications including being a NRA police firearms instructor and an instructor for firearms training at the FBI academy to name a few.

Biggie, a native of Texas, spent 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was a member of the military police. He is certified in military law.

This is not Biggie’s first stint as police chief of Grant Town. He also held the position from 1994 to 1996. He was also the superintendent for the West Virginia Industrial Home for Youth. He again took over as police chief of the municipality in February 2007.

Biggie and Riggs also listed some upgrades he would like to help make at the Grant Town police department.

The two said they are working on obtaining a grant to purchase a machine to measure an individual’s blood alcohol content. Currently subjects must be taken to Fairmont to get an accurate blood alcohol content reading taken. Biggie also said that he is working on getting a new video system for the police cruiser.

E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.

        

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