Tanana Valley Campus Law Enforcement Academy to Hold Graduation Ceremony

Submitted by Scott McCrea
Phone: (907) 474-1157
11/06/02

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Tanana Valley Campus will be holding a graduation ceremony for its Law Enforcement Academy on Friday, Nov. 8, 2002, at 2 p.m. at the Old University Park gymnasium.

The ceremony marks the closing of the third academy, which started on August 18. The academy is designed to provide students with basic police training which will enable them to receive the Alaska Police Standards Certification. The certification will make them eligible for employment with the 21 state law enforcement agencies or 43 municipal police departments within Alaska. Former Alaska State Trooper John Myers is the faculty coordinator of the academy.

The students received 490 hours of training and education in a wide variety of topics including basic patrol procedures, marksmanship, arson investigation, report writing, major crime investigation, traffic accident investigation, search and seizure laws, DWI detection, domestic violence response and practical testing, cultural diversity, and survival tactics.

Twenty-three students from around the state are graduating from the program. Myers said more than a third of the students in the program already had positions in security or law enforcement and were furthering their skills to obtain their certification. Many of the other graduates have already secured employment and Myers predicts that all should be employed by the end of the year. 95 percent of the graduates from the first two academies are currently employed in various law enforcement positions in Alaska.

"Not only are we graduating successful students, we are also graduating diverse students," said Myers, who pointed out that from the three academies, 38 percent of the students have been Alaskan Native and 16 percent have been women.

Graduates of the class include Patrick Blumer, John Canoy, Kyle Carrington, Sarah Derksen, Jimmy Duyck, David Eneyuk, William Ferris, Mary Geary, Joseph Germain, Molly Gust, Dennis Hensley, James Hoelscher, Frank Joe, Shannon Kramer, Joshua Mize, Robert Moffett, Jeffrey Naumoff, Kevin Nelson, Alvin Osterback, Todd Schlumbohm, Kelly Shover, Stanley Swetzof and Edward Takacs.

TVC will be starting its next academy on February 24, 2003. For more information contact Myers at (907) 474-2703.

The media is invited to attend the graduation ceremony which will be held in the Old University Park School gymnasium at 1000 University Avenue. For more information contact John Myers at (907) 474-2703 or TVC Marketing Coordinator Scott McCrea at (907) 474-1157.