{"id":78717,"date":"2026-09-08T08:27:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T15:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78717"},"modified":"2026-09-08T11:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:15:11","slug":"law-enforcement-training-academu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/law-enforcement-training-academu\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning. Training. Serving."},"content":{"rendered":"

For students who want a career protecting communities, enforcing the\u00a0law\u00a0or\u00a0preserving public lands, the path can begin long before they put on a uniform.\u00a0Through classroom instruction, practical\u00a0training\u00a0and exposure to the realities of the job, the\u00a0<\/span>Law Enforcement Training Academy at NAU<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is preparing the next generation of professionals to serve both\u00a0the\u00a0people and the places they call home\u00a0right after graduation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a>The\u00a0program, which started in 1998,\u00a0fulfills the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training (AZ POST) requirements and is open to NAU students as a minor, sponsoring law enforcement agencies throughout the state and individuals who are just seeking training and experience in law enforcement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Patrick\u00a0Michael\u00a0O\u2019Connor<\/span><\/b>, director of NAU\u2019s Law Enforcement Training Academy, graduated from the program\u00a0in 2002,\u00a0and after a 20-year career in law enforcement, he\u00a0found his way back to NAU.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0was able to\u00a0come\u00a0full circle and be the director of the same program I graduated from,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. “It\u00a0is long and arduous, but upon completion, students\u00a0can\u00a0become law enforcement officers.\u00a0They are also eligible to receive a certificate\u00a0through the National Park Service to become seasonal law enforcement officers.\u00a0We have connections in Washington State Parks and Wyoming State Parks and other law enforcement agencies throughout the country that will accept this training\u00a0so students can go in whatever direction they\u00a0want.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a>The class\u00a0meets\u00a0four days a week, 10 hours a day for five months. Students participate in physical fitness, which\u00a0O\u2019Connor said is a critical\u00a0component\u00a0of being a successful law enforcement officer.\u00a0The program covers constitutional law and the Fourth Amendment and practices de-escalation tactics and techniques.\u00a0Students\u00a0train in the use of firearms, including pistols, shotguns and rifles, as well as in\u00a0law enforcement defensive tactics and reality-based training scenarios to be ready for the field upon graduation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alan Ramirez<\/span><\/b>, a senior majoring in criminology, chose the Law Enforcement Training Academy as a minor for the security it can provide for his future. As a veteran, he is no stranger to the\u00a0program’s physical training requirements, and once he heard about the certifications it offered, he enrolled\u00a0right away.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u00a0you apply to a police department, they send you to\u00a0an\u00a0academy, but this program is different because you are a student and you can knock it out in your minor and get the certification,\u201d Ramirez said.\u00a0\u201cI plan to get married and want a career where I will have job\u00a0security and get a position in any state or city. This is a good fit for me.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon competition of the program, students can apply for\u00a0any law enforcement job in the state, including\u00a0jobs with\u00a0the National Park Service. This is what attracted senior\u00a0<\/span>Keigan Hughes<\/span><\/b>\u00a0to the\u00a0minor. Hughes is majoring in\u00a0parks and\u00a0recreation\u00a0management and minoring in both the academy and\u00a0outdoor leadership and education. He said\u00a0this program\u00a0was the reason he selected NAU.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a>\u201cI have always been interested in working for the parks as a ranger,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cSince 2022,\u00a0I have worked for Colorado\u00a0Parks and Wildlife doing a variety of positions and I fell in love with the job. As a kid, I remember going to all the national parks, seeing all the rangers and knowing that was what I wanted to do\u00a0with my life. I knew it was my\u00a0calling. When I was researching schools, I saw that NAU offered the program and that it was one of the best academies in the country.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Law Enforcement Training Academy runs only once a year, but O\u2019Connor said the goal is to run two academies a year, one in the fall semester and one in the spring.\u00a0Students interested in enrolling should contact their advisor\u00a0since the\u00a015-credit-hour program\u00a0is not only time-intensive but\u00a0typically starts two weeks before the traditional\u00a0semester and ends two weeks after.\u00a0\u00a0The application period\u00a0ends\u00a0six weeks\u00a0before\u00a0the first day\u00a0of class. Students are encouraged to apply early to ensure a seat in the program.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are surrounded by public lands, with our national parks and forest service lands,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cStudents get exposed to the federal curriculum and how to work for those agencies. Being at a university, we are very stringent\u00a0in\u00a0our academics and ensure that all our graduates have a full understanding of the Constitution and how that applies to\u00a0the\u00a0day-to-day activities of a law enforcement officer.\u00a0It also puts the students who want a career in law enforcement amongst their peers;\u00a0this helps show that law enforcement professionals are people too. Our participants stay in academic housing and walk around the building. Other students can see that police are approachable, that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0family and that\u00a0we’re\u00a0friends as well. That\u00a0we’re\u00a0all part of the same\u00a0objective: to keep happy and safe communities. We can all achieve that goal by working together.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information, email\u00a0<\/span>Patrick\u00a0Michael\u00a0O\u2019Connor<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For students who want a career protecting communities, enforcing the\u00a0law\u00a0or\u00a0preserving public lands, the path can begin long before they put on a uniform.\u00a0Through classroom instruction, practical\u00a0training\u00a0and exposure to the realities of the job, the\u00a0Law Enforcement Training Academy at NAU\u00a0is preparing the next generation of professionals to serve both\u00a0the\u00a0people and the places they call home\u00a0right after…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3019,"featured_media":78718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1829],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics","category-student-edition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78717"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78740,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78717\/revisions\/78740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}