Stout students enter law enforcement academy at CVTC

Four UW-Stout students who are majoring in criminal justice and rehabilitation are attending the Law Enforcement Academy at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, which began this week. With program director Rodney Maiden, center, they are, from left, Wesley Hartkemeyer, Damarcus Zeroth, Riley McLennan and Matt Roberts.

By UW-Stout News Bureau

For the first time at UW-Stout, students in the criminal justice and rehabilitation program are preparing to enter a law enforcement academy. The opportunity is the result of a new collaboration between UW-Stout and Chippewa Valley Technical College.

UW-Stout signed an articulation agreement in the fall that allows criminal justice and rehabilitation majors to receive academic credit for attending the Chippewa Valley Technical College Law Enforcement Academy in Eau Claire. The current academy began Monday (Jan. 4).

Under the agreement, UW-Stout students who are graduates of the 18-week academy meet state law enforcement certification requirements and may apply for up to 19 semester credit hours toward their bachelor’s degrees.

The goal of the agreement is to better prepare UW-Stout graduates pursuing careers as police officers in the criminal justice and rehabilitation field.

“With their bachelor’s degree and law enforcement certification, this will increase our students’ marketability to employers. Moreover, it will increase the demand from employers for our students,” said Rodney Maiden, director of UW-Stout’s criminal justice and rehabilitation program.

Maiden added that, based on the latest research, many law enforcement agencies understand the value of having officers with bachelor’s degrees.

Four students from UW-Stout plan to attend the next academy. They are Wesley Hartkemeyer of Eau Claire, Riley McLennan of Rice Lake, Matt Roberts of Mankato, MN, and DaMarcus Zeroth of River Falls.

UW-Stout students in the academy typically will be juniors or seniors who will finish their degree after the academy, Maiden said.

“Our students will blend what they’ve learned here with their academy training to develop a perspective that parallels our program’s view of the offender,” he said. “The rehabilitation aspect stresses education and training to promote positive behavioral change and interaction along with an understanding of factors that lead to unlawful behavior. More and more law enforcement agencies are focusing on the rehabilitation aspect of criminal justice rather than just the punitive.”

The criminal justice and rehabilitation program began in fall 2014 after approval in February 2014 by the UW System Board of Regents. With a focus on rehabilitation and criminal justice, the program is unique in the Midwest and in other areas of the United States.

The articulation agreement between UW-Stout and CVTC will remain in effect until 2020, after which time it will be reviewed.

Maiden expressed gratitude to Eric Anderson, criminal justice/law enforcement program director at CVTC, for “his tireless efforts working with me to make this collaboration a reality for UW-Stout students.”

“I am extremely excited about this partnership and the responsiveness of the students to this new option,” Maiden added. “Hopefully, this will be a longstanding agreement and set a precedent for criminal justice programs around the nation.”

Criminal justice and rehabilitation majors at UW-Stout are trained for jobs that include probation and parole agent, law enforcement officer, game warden, correctional treatment specialist and positions in juvenile services and court programs.