Wright State Police Academy trains cadets for law enforcement careers while earning college credits

To become a police officer in Ohio, officers must complete a certified law enforcement academy. It would be difficult to find a police department in Raider Country that doesn’t include a graduate from the Wright State University-Lake Campus Police Academy.

“I had high expectations coming to this academy,” said Conner Burr, a 2019 Lake Campus graduate who enrolled in the academy to become a police officer. “It’s lived up to every single one of them.”

Over the past 25 years, about 400 cadets have completed certification through the academy and gained knowledge and training in various areas of law enforcement, including firearms training, first-aid, driving, self-defense, taser and pepper spray training, physical fitness and de-escalation training, while also gaining college credits toward an Associate of Applied Science: Law Enforcement Concentration or a Bachelor of Arts in Crime and Justice Studies.

“When they leave the Lake Campus, they can literally start the next day at a law enforcement agency, and they have all of the certifications they need to do the job,” said Mark Ernst, commander of the Wright State Police Academy.

This year, 14 cadets started the academy in August 2024 and will complete the course in April 2025. Cadets will complete a minimum of 780 hours of training and earn 30 college credit hours.

The Lake Campus Police Academy recently increased the number of credit hours cadets earn from 15 to 30, making the program the only police academy in Northwest Ohio that offers a full year of college credit.

“We kind of go above and beyond and really what we are doing is giving students things that local agencies desire to make them marketable when they leave here,” said Ernst.

This year’s cadets are Connor Barrett, Jack Boos, Connor Burr, Isaac Daniel, Jacob Farber, Amanda Godinho, Wokelle Googeg, Chandler Hoskins, Cole Koenig, Zachary Kuck, Westly McVety, Taylor Ott, Tatianna Poelking and Brandi Weber.