On March 6, 33 members of the campus community graduated from the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Community Police Academy (CPA). The 33 graduates are nearly double the 17 that graduated from the Fall 2023 CPA.
The CPA is a free four-week program designed to give students, faculty and staff an idea of what it is like to protect and serve the campus community. During their time in the program, participants learned from guest presenters, including certified instructors from DPS, Syracuse Police and Syracuse University Ambulance.
The CPA wrapped up with a ceremony where the graduates were presented with CPA graduation certificate from Craig Stone, DPS chief and associate vice president. “The CPA is vital in our efforts to engage with and build trust with our campus community,” says Stone. “We nearly doubled the number of graduates from our previous CPA. It is a testament to the hard work of our instructors for developing, obtaining feedback from graduates, and improving a program that continues to gain momentum within our community.”
Officer George Wazen, coordinator of the CPA, is thankful the campus community has embraced the program with such enthusiasm.
“To see the excitement around the CPA continue to grow each semester is inspiring for us as instructors. To have this forum to host members of our community and learn from each other is invaluable to us at DPS,” says Wazen. Finding ways to innovate and have an interactive curriculum is paramount. “Thanks to feedback from our graduates we are already evaluating how to evolve the program in the future,” he says.
Dates for the next CPA during the Fall 2024 semester are in the process of being finalized. To learn more about the program, visit dps.syr.edu and follow DPS on social media (@syracusedps) for updates.