More than One Million Dollars was given to Penn State’s Justice and Safety Department in an endowment by an anonymous donor last month…
Reporter Zac Kaye joins us live now with more on how they say this money will help law enforcement agencies Nationwide
The Penn State Justice and Safety Institute offers different law enforcement training programs throughout the year.
Their Director says that the more than One Million Dollar endowment will go a long way in helping underfunded law enforcement agencies, who can’t afford training that isn’t state funded.
Steve Shelow is the Director of Penn State’s Justice and Safety Institute, or JASI, and says that more than 1,200 officers completed their criminal justice professional training programs just last year.
“A good deal of the agencies with whom or with which we work in the CJPT space are in Pennsylvania but we also do training in about 19 states outside of Pennsylvania.”
He says the other training programs they offer, like Sheriff’s and Deputy Sheriff’s training, are covered by the State Government while the CJPT programs cost between $500 and $1400.
Shelow says that a lot of agencies Nationwide are already underfunded, making these programs unrealistic.
He says they are extremely grateful for the more than One Million dollar endowment and want to use it to make their programs more accessible.
“It won’t be given in a lump sum, the money will be invested, and then annually allocated to JASI to help offset the tuition costs for those agencies or those officers who couldn’t otherwise afford to come.”
He says the endowment is from an anonymous donor who wants to put more officers through the eleven management and specialty training programs offered by Penn State.
In a release from the University, the donor says that they hope this money helps officers become quote: effective contributors to safe and secure communities.
“We hear often, and repeatedly, that the work that we’re doing in the CJPT training space has an impact, has an impact to the individual officer, has an impact to his or her agency and to their community.”
Shelow says the majority of these professional training programs are available online and you can find a link to their upcoming courses on our website.
Reporting live in Centre County, Zac Kaye,
