Like many other area police departments, Montgomery County has a need for more police officers, and it hopes to lure in recruits and keep its veterans with discounted college education.
The county鈥檚 police department has partnered with the to offer officers and their immediate family members savings of up to $60,000 on graduate or undergraduate programs.
“This is about investing in people 鈥� the men and women who serve here, their families who support them. This partnership reflects our commitment to investing in the future of not only this department, but the future of our communities that we serve,鈥� Police Chief Marc Yamada said.
With training academy classes under their belt and in-the-field training, some officers will be able to transfer all of that into 60 college credit hours at the start of their coursework. Military service, certification and some other vocational education could add on another 30 credit hours, leaving officers only 30 credits shy of a bachelor’s degree.
The program will offer both UMGC鈥�’s fully online degree programs and in-person classes.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said this partnership solves a 鈥渃ollege problem鈥� for the police department.
鈥淚t gets people into our program and through these classes, which will make better police officers, and it does it in the way that anybody who wants to be a police officer can do it without trying to think, ‘How long do I have to delay my career, and how hard is it going to be to go to school to get there?’鈥� Elrich said.
Rand Hansen, associate dean for the School of Integrative and Professional Studies at UMGC, said this announcement of the partnership is only the beginning.
鈥淲e are committed not only to staying together and providing meaningful, high-quality learning experiences, but also to expand our partnership and explore new opportunities for collaboration with both the police academy and the department in the years ahead,鈥� he said.
Capt. David Reed heads the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Academy and helped make the partnership a reality.
鈥淚’m excited for the opportunities it creates in our recruiting and for the rank and file that serve Montgomery County,鈥� Reed said.
Reed said he believes offering this will 鈥渃hange the game鈥� when it comes to recruiting new officers as the department tries to fill about 180 vacancies.
Yamada also said he believes the program will be pivotal in keeping current officers with the department.
鈥淵ou’re talking about somebody who was not able to, say, obtain the rank of sergeant, now might be able to. For somebody who wants to get a graduate’s degree, all these things play into the ability for us to retain officers who are already here,鈥� Yamada said.
Within hours of offering the partnership, the department received 50 applications from officers, professional staff and family members of those individuals to whom the program is available.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
漏 2025 91欧美激情. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
