What is the Johnstown Regional Police Academy at Penn Highlands Community College?

Chloe Shaulis of Davidsville said she always knew she wanted to become a police officer, but she didn’t know how to get started in pursuit of that dream.

This year, the 20-year-old Conemaugh Township Area High School graduate found the opportunity she was looking for through training offered by the Johnstown Regional Police Academy program at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Richland Township.

“Dennis (Miller, police academy director) gave me a tour and told me what to expect,” she said. “I signed up the next day.”

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Shaulis and Michael Logsdon, of Somerset Township, are among the initial class of 12 cadets from Somerset, Cambria and Blair counties to pursue law enforcement training through the community college’s new part-time police academy program.

The cadets began their training in September, and they will complete a total of 919 hours of training through evening and weekend classes offered in the one-year program.

What is the Johnstown Regional Police Academy?

In January, the state approved the transfer of a local program to Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, Miller said. He is retired from a federal law enforcement career and is now an associate professor of criminal justice at the community college.

The academy’s classes are taught by 12 instructors who are current or retired law enforcement professionals, Miller said.

“It’s been a heavy lift, but we are excited to be up and running,” he said. “We can offer a quality educational experience and training program to serve our local communities.

“The college is 100% behind this program and it’s exciting to get it up and running.”

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The Johnstown Regional Police Academy offers a training program that is mandated by the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission, Miller said. Potential cadets must be at least 18 years old, have earned a high school diploma or a GED, pass criminal and driving record checks and complete physical and psychological evaluations. More information on the requirements for enrollment can be found at the police academy’s website.

In addition to extensive training in law enforcement, including laws and procedures, human relations crisis management and criminal investigation, the cadets receive basic firearms training and enhanced simulator training for firearms.

The enhanced simulator training takes cadets through approximately 800 different real-life police response scenarios, Miller said, including domestic abuse situations, assaults, active shooter situations and other incidents.

This simulator training is also available to local police departments for training opportunities. For information, call Cory Fairman, the college’s assistant director of security and safety, at 814-262-6427.

Cadet certification and sponsorships

Once cadets complete the police academy’s training program, they are then eligible to take a certification test offered by the commission. Cadets who pass this certification test can then be employed at any municipal police department in Pennsylvania, such as a borough, township or city department.

The commission also has a sponsorship program available in which a municipality agrees to pay a cadet’s tuition to the academy, Miller said. Once the cadet graduates and is hired by the sponsoring municipality, the commission reimburses the municipality up to 75% of the cost of tuition that it paid to the academy.

“Routinely I get calls from municipalities recruiting cadets, wanting to know when they are ready to enter law enforcement,” Miller said. “There’s an absolute need for police officers in our local communities.”

Shaulis is one of four cadets in the class who are sponsored by a municipality, in her case the Indian Lake Borough Police Department.

“(Miller) mentioned that Indian Lake was looking to sponsor a cadet,” she said. “I met with their police chief and their mayor and borough council.”

Helping cadets learn while they work

Graduates of the Johnstown Regional Police Academy also earn 18 credits toward an associate degree in criminal justice from Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, should they choose to pursue that degree.

“This education benefits them as they move forward in their career, with career development and upward mobility,” Miller said.

Because the police academy’s training is offered on evenings and weekends, the cadets, who range from 19 to 37 years of age, can continue working full-time while attending class part-time.

“It opens a lot of doors,” said Shaulis, who works full-time as a dispatcher with the Somerset County Department of Emergency Services.

Miller added: “Most of the cadets are working elsewhere (in positions outside of law enforcement), and are attending the police academy because they want to make a career change or they are following their life’s dream. (This way,) they are able to maintain their employment — and some are older, with children, and can’t uproot their families (to attend classes).

“It (the Johnstown Regional Police Academy) serves a very unique niche in the community.”

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How the community helps the police academy

A grant of more than $2,600 from the Pennsylvania Highlands Community College Foundation paid for the uniforms and equipment for this initial class of cadets, according to a news release from the community college.

“Universally, the police uniform symbolizes trust, honesty and professionalism,” Miller said. “Cadets wear uniforms to create a sense of cohesion, pride and teamwork within the ranks.

“These cadets will enter the field of law enforcement, where they will be held to a higher standard of professional conduct and ethics. The uniform reminds them they are expected to act with fairness, trustworthiness and honesty and it promotes pride in being the next generation of public servants.”

A second class of police academy cadets is to begin training in fall 2023, Miller said. The eventual goal is to offer two cadet classes per academic year. Financial aid is available to help with tuition. For information, call the college’s Student Financial Services department at 814-262-6454.

The community college foundation has also opened the Penn Highlands Police Academy fund to offer scholarships to future cadets. Donations to the fund can be made online at pennhighlands.edu/donate or by calling 814-262-6448.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Johnstown Regional Police Academy opens at Pa. Highlands Community College