More than 40 students will graduate ready to take positions within the North Dakota law enforcement community.
Lake Region State College will hold graduation ceremonies for students who have completed the summer Peace Officer Training academies in Fargo and Grand Forks.
Twenty-two students will graduate from the Grand Forks academy Wednesday, August 14. The ceremonies will take place at 11:00 am in the Empire Arts Center, downtown Grand Forks.
The summer academy in Fargo will graduate 20 students. Ceremonies will be Thursday, August 15 at 11:00 am in the NDSU Fine Arts Center.
The Fargo academy has run each summer since 2002 and Grand Forks since 2010.
The Peace Officer Training Program is a one-semester basic police academy that results in license eligibility for program graduates. Unlike traditional college criminal justice programs, graduates are immediately hirable by law enforcement agencies as the students have completed all necessary training to obtain a peace officer license in North Dakota, said John Maritato, director of LRSC’s Peace Officer Program.
“The program has an almost 100 percent employment rate for graduates that actively pursue a position as a full-time police officer or deputy sheriff in North Dakota,” Maritato said.
A fall academy will start August 26 in Devils Lake at LRSC’s main campus with a spring academy planned in Minot next January.
Lake Region State College began training police officers in 1987. Since that time, the college has produced more than 1,500 license-eligible graduates that have been hired by almost 120 different North Dakota law enforcement agencies. Instructors for the program include law enforcement professionals from various law enforcement agencies, including members of police departments, sheriff’s departments, the N.D. Highway Patrol, the N.D. Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the college’s faculty.