What is YALE?

The Academy is proud to announce an innovative youth program designed specifically to provide vocational paths towards public safety careers. The Youth Academy for Leadership and Excellence (YALE) is designed to build character, leadership and excellence in youth ages 12 years and up and encourage responsible citizenship within the community. YALE promotes cooperation and trust between youth and public safety professionals while advancing continued education through the community college or vocational career education ladder.

The unique partnership between local law enforcement and the community colleges creates viable public safety career opportunities for youth and supports the development of strong leadership and community awareness in young people. YALE focuses on intensive and interactive course work in the area of public safety. Classes are designed to challenge youth through student centered learning methods to realize their full potential not only as individuals, but as members of a community as well.

Mission and Goals

The mission of YALE is to develop youth personally, socially and mentally to their fullest potential, accomplishing this through an interactive, integrated and diverse curriculum. YALE promotes the development of character-building, leadership skills and community awareness using public safety curricula to accomplish these goals. YALE strives to provide opportunities to young people who are interested in personal growth and enrichment and who may desire a career in public safety such as law enforcement, dispatch, fire services, correction and probation.

The goals are to create partnerships between local public safety agencies, community colleges and youth in the community. Specifically, these goals include:

1. Establish viable career paths for individuals interested in public safety careers.
2. Build responsible citizenship and build trust and cooperation between public safety and the youth in our community.
3. Address recruitment challenges for local public safety agencies.
4. Bridge community college degree courses with law enforcement competency skills.
5. Educate youth on the challenges, responsibilities, demands and opportunities associated with a career in public safety.
6. Educate and develop youth to be leaders within their schools, neighborhoods and communities.

Programs

The Academy offers four YALE programs: JAG (Junior Academy Group), ages 12 - 14; LEAP (Law Enforcement Academy Program), ages 15 - 17; PEP (Police Explorer Program), ages 18 and above; and CAL (Character and Leadership).

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