FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE?????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????? OPCLEE

3:00 PM PST, Friday, May 10, 2001?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 202/307-0703

 

 

POLICE CORPS HOLDS GRADUATION CEREMONY ?

10 Officers Graduate From Justice Department Program

 

 

PORTLAND, OREGON ? With the graduation today of 10 police cadets, the Oregon Police Corps has added a total of 96 highly trained Police Corps officers to community patrol throughout Oregon. Oregon is one of 22 states and territories that recruit and train college graduates to serve four years as community police officers through a program funded by the Department of Justice?s Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

 

?The Police Corps program is an excellent opportunity for highly motivated, qualified young people to receive federal scholarships and serve our counties and cities as law enforcement officers,? said Deborah Daniels, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs.? ?As we have seen community policing take hold, our communities across the country are truly benefitting from these officers.?

 

??????????? ?The Police Corps is a competitive college scholarship program for students who

agree to work in a state or local police force for at least four years.? Scholarship funds cover education expenses, including tuition, fees, books, supplies, transportation, room and board, and miscellaneous expenses.

 

Today?s graduates of the Oregon Police Corps program will join six of the state?s local law enforcement agencies. Those departments are the Corvallis Police Department, Eugene Police Department, Gresham Police Department, Marion Police Department, Portland Police Bureau and the Tigard Police Department.

 

The graduating Police Corps officers are Christina Boak of Roseburg; Michael Bledsoe of Deer Island; Sean Donohue of Gresham; David Smid of Eugene; Christine Thoma of Portland; Charles Lovell of Brooklyn, New York; Andrew Pastore of Olympia, Washington; Robert Pickett of Terre Haute, Indiana; Joseph Carmack of Oceanside, California; and Colleen Arient of Nome, Alaska.

 

The graduation, which took place at Camp Kuratli in Trestle Glen, Oregon, was the culmination of a rigorous 21‑week Police Corps training program.? This basic training teaches the knowledge, skills and attitudes police officers need to serve on community patrol. At the conclusion of the training, all participants must satisfy high performance standards for physical, mental and emotional fitness. The police departments in which individual participants will serve provide additional training as appropriate.

 

Students interested in the Police Corps apply to the lead agency of the participating state in which they wish to serve. Applications are then evaluated based upon defined selection criteria. States with Police Corps programs are expected to advertise the availability of scholarships to the full range of prospective participants and to make special efforts to encourage applications from among members of all racial, ethnic and gender groups.??????????

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For additional information about the Oregon Police Corps program, contact Captain Lynnae Berg at 503/517‑1361 or see http://www.oregonpolicecorps.com.?? Information is also available through OJP?s Website at:? http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/opclee.>

 

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OPC02114

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For additional information contact Sheila Jerusalem at 202/307-0703.??