Ask any of the 27 recruits studying law enforcement at the University of Akron what they want to do when they graduate and you’ll get just about as many responses.
“There are so many opportunities in the law enforcement field and we have a variety of interests, from working in the detective bureau, narcotics, road officers, the jail, working in the city, suburbs, rangers, we all want different things,” said 24-year-old Bart Randolph of Wadsworth, who has a business management degree.
He is one of cadets in the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy at the University of Akron, which has joined forces with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office to teach the semester-long program for its second year. Prior to that, it was run solely by UA since 1970.
“I think having the sheriff’s office connected to the academy helps us with the quality of our training,” said Bill Sprit, 23, of North Canton, who served in the U.S Marine Corps before joining the class.
Brian Woods, 22, of Akron, who has been a paramedic for six months, called it the best of both worlds. “We get a strong academic background, plus the experience of the officers in training.”
The three-month school has open enrollment said Bill Holland, the commander of the program, who runs the day-to-day operations. He’s also the sheriff’s office’s chief spokesman and a former FBI agent.
To qualify for the school, he said, cadets must be at least 20½ years old, have no felony convictions and a valid driver’s license. There is no maximum age.
“I think we have one of the best academies out there because of the combination of a university setting with a police agency,” Holland said. “OPOTA has a mandatory 600 hours, but we add a few extra hours. The cadets meet Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s pretty grueling for those three months.”
Holland said he really enjoys working with the program, especially with such a young group. The current group ranges from 21 to 28 years old.
“You can instill values and qualities in them while they are young,” he said. “Even if you just have an academy uniform it’s still a uniform and you should respect that uniform and the way you carry yourself and the way you act in that uniform is how the academy is going to be judged and that translates when they get a job as a police officer ... you are representing that entire agency and your whole agency is judged by your actions when you have it on.
“At the end of the day it’s all in how you communicate with people and bring resolutions to situations.”
He said the program has about 20 instructors from various police departments in cities, rural areas and suburbs.
Akron police Chief James Nice is an instructor who teaches fitness and physical conditioning at the academy and how to be a first responder on the scene. He’s also a 2012 graduate of the UA academy.
“I wasn’t a sworn officer in Ohio when I became chief,” said Nice, who was named Akron chief in 2011 after serving as an FBI agent mostly in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. “You can be a police chief without being a sworn officer, but I didn’t want to have the job only administratively. I wanted to be able to back up the troops when a call goes out.”
It’s that kind of dedication and enthusiasm the recruits said they see in all their instructors.
“It’s not just a paycheck to them, they care about making us better in the field,” said Ben Schmitt, 28, of Cuyahoga Falls, who left a manufacturing job to pursue his dreams. “It’s cliche, but it’s something I always wanted to do since I was a kid.”
Alex Williams, 21, of Akron, who worked with children with special needs, said his generation brings a different perspective to the table.
“We’re needed out there with the crime of today,” he said. “The crime field is changing. It’s a lot different nowadays.”
The cadets said they love the program’s hands-on approach. They go out on the road with deputies and learn how to drive a police unit, shoot radar and the correct way to pull someone over, using weather and traffic to determine whether they should try to stop someone at all.
“One of the best things about this job is it’s always challenging. It’s always changing. You really have to be able to adapt to this career to stay in it for the long run,” said Nathan Rosenberg, 21, of Akron, who has been a paramedic for two years.
The cadets know they have a lot of discretion on the job, which can be second-guessed.
“Things can be questionable, especially from the people getting in trouble and everybody looking at law enforcement as the bad guys,” said Bart Randolph. “But that’s just the way things are because we’re the ones keeping things in check, coming at a time of emergency to those who need help and sometimes people don’t want our help … but its what we’re trained to do.”
The OPOTA program is self sufficient and is not funded from the University of Akron’s general fund.
“It’s a break-even proposition,” said Assistant Dean Stephen Motika of the College of Applied Science and Technology, which oversees the academy. “The cost of the academy is $115,000 for 30 cadets and the tuition covers the cost. Tuition is $4,200.”
The University also pays $22,500 each semester for the services of the commander and use of the sheriff’s office’s Green Road facility for some training. An additional $3,000 is paid per class for the use of its firearms range.
The program is aligned with the academic calendar so no one will lose a semester of other coursework needed for graduation if he or she is working toward a degree.
“Another big advantage is that the sheriff’s office has a 3½-month interview process of any prospective sheriff’s deputies they want to hire out of the class,” Motika said. “Students make decisions themselves, but if they are particularly good cadets the sheriff’s department could make a pitch for those cadets.”
Cadets, who are certified to be law enforcement officers when they finish the academy, must find a job within a year or they must repeat the program.
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.