RALEIGH – For the past decade, North Carolina's Police Corps program has prepared dozens of cadets to become some of the state's most highly-trained and skilled community law enforcement officers. The latest – and last – Police Corps Academy class in the nation will graduate this Friday.
The federally-funded, state-run program trains college graduates to serve four years as community police officers, and in exchange offers cadets a college scholarship. The academy teaches the students law enforcement skills, develops their leadership abilities, and exposes them to a myriad of situations that they will face as law enforcement officers.
“These graduates are well-trained and eager to work for law enforcement agencies that often have a harder time recruiting young officers,” said Bryan Beatty, Secretary for the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety which runs the program. “The Police Corps has been a wonderful program that helps the students get the education they need while helping local sheriffs and police departments.”
The intense, 24-week residential academy was designed to train law enforcement officers who have respect for the role of the community in policing. Cadets receive more than 1300 hours of instruction and advanced training (twice the amount required in basic law enforcement courses) including courses in gang violence, hate crimes and juvenile minority sensitivity training. North Carolina was one of six states to implement the pilot program in 1996. At its peak, 26 other states also participated in the Police Corps program that is funded by the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs. But as federal funds dwindled, other state programs folded. North Carolina is the last state conducting a Police Corps Academy.
In all, the state's Police Corps Academy has trained 68 officers for service in North Carolina, as well as 17 officers from Arizona, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. On Friday, five more will join the ranks as law enforcement officers.
The graduation will be held Friday, Dec. 15 at 1 p.m. in Jones Auditorium at the North Carolina Justice Academy in Salemburg. Ms. Pat Watson, former Police Corps Administrator, will deliver the keynote address.
Upon graduation, three of the new officers will perform community patrol for law enforcement agencies in North Carolina, while one will serve in Mississippi and one in Wisconsin .
2006 POLICE CORPS GRADUATING CLASS
| Graduate | Hometown | School Attended | Agency Assigned |
| Tyler S. Braswell | Princeton, NC | NC State University | Wilmington Police |
| David M. Bryan | White Lake, NC | UNC-Pembroke | Dare County Sheriff |
| Matthew J. Leque | River Falls, WI | University of WI | to be determined |
| David W. Waddell | Durham, NC | NC State University | Durham Police |
| Bryan C. Woods | Columbia, MS | University of Southern MS | Gulfport Police |
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