READY TO SERVE
Recruits graduate from both university and police academy
‘This is all to prepare them to become future police officers who are educated, professional, well trained, and who conduct themselves with honesty, integrity and discipline.’
– Lisa Lane McCarty, FSU Police Program Academy director
FITCHBURG » Police recruits graduated on Friday from the Fitchburg State University fourth Recruit Officer Course with an undergraduate degree in criminal justice.
Dozens of undergraduates filed into Weston Auditorium ahead of the 15 police academy graduates, who were dressed in crisp navy police uniforms and white gloves. The space was packed with row upon row of family and friends as well as officials including state Rep. Michael
Kushmerek, D-Fitchburg, and City Councilor Beth Walsh. The Massachusetts Department of Correction honor guard took the stage to present the flags, a moment of silence for 9/11 was held and the national anthem sang, and a montage of photos and videos of the recruits going through training was shown.
FSU Police Program Academy Director Lisa Lane McCarty acknowledged the family members when she spoke, some who had traveled from far away to attend the graduation ceremony. She said this was the first police academy class she has been with all four years since she came on the job in January 2017.
“We have grown together as this program has evolved and changed,” McCarty said. “This is your day. This is your accomplishment.”
McCarty, the daughter of a police officer, was one of several speakers to address the crowd, including Worcester Police Chief Steven Sargent.
“Your family always comes first,” she said. “Always”
The FSU police program began in 2016, a partnership with the Municipal Police Training Committee that enables FSU to run the program and academy. Students come in as freshmen and then two days after their senior year commencement they enter the police academy, graduating 17 weeks later with a certification to become a full-time municipal police officer in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and other surrounding states.
McCarty said the graduates “have essentially been police recruits” during their four undergraduate years, following all the academic, conduct and uniform requirements that traditional recruits follow for a much shorter time period.
“They followed all of the rules that a traditional recruit only has to follow for 20 to 22 weeks for four years,” McCarty said. “This illustrates their unwavering commitment to their goals and their passion for their chosen profession of policing.”
The police academy counts as 12 credits toward a master’s degree in criminal justice, and as such graduates have the option to continue on to a master’s program and take 24 additional credits to receive a master’s degree in criminal justice.
“Most do go on to receive their master’s in criminal justice,” McCarty said. “They can take up to three fall classes, three spring classes, and two summer classes to finish in about a year, or they can take the classes at their own pace.”
She said all classes in the FSU master’s program are online, giving the new police officers flexibility since they will be working evenings from 3 to 11 p.m. or overnights shifts, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
“Online classes allow them the flexibility to continue with their advanced degree,” McCarty said.
Police officers from several towns and cities in the region work with the recruits as drill instructors.
FSU President Richard Lapidus said at the graduation ceremony that while the Recruit Officer Course is difficult, “the rigor is necessary” as the officers will face challenges as a police officer. “I have been at every start and graduation,” Lapidus said of the police academy. “I could not be prouder of the outcome.”
McCarty said their model of combining education with police training in a university setting is the only one of its kind in the country, and that because of their partnership with the Municipal Police Training Committee about one quarter of the Recruit Officer Course curriculum “is embedded into some of our undergraduate criminal justice courses.”
Police students wear a police uniform and begin to learn academy-related procedures such as drill and ceremony and writing memorandums during their undergraduate years.
“They are held to higher academic, conduct and appearance standards than other students on campus,” McCarty said. “This is all to prepare them to become future police officers who are educated, professional, well trained, and who conduct themselves with honesty, integrity and discipline.”
Many of the graduates have already been hired by police departments across the state including Northboro, Middleboro, Harwich, Hopedale, Auburn and FSU.
Harwich native Evangeline Cakounes was able to begin the master’s program at FSU a semester early since she graduated in December and will start her new job as a police officer in Orange within the next two weeks.
“I have always wanted to become a police officer since the age of 2,” she said. “No one in my family has anything to do with law enforcement so I really do not know where I got the idea from, but it has never changed.”
Cakounes said she was proud to be graduating and have her parents and Orange Police Chief James Sullivan there to witness the big day.
“It is something I have always dreamed of,” she said. “Little kids plan and dream about their wedding, I dreamed about my graduation. I am really excited about the opportunity in Orange as well, it is a wonderful department. I am excited to begin my career.”