If you’re interested in a career in law enforcement, ACC offers a rigorous program that will have you career-ready in as little as one semester.

But if you think a one-semester certificate program seems like a cakewalk, think again. The ACC Law Enforcement Academy (LEA) is anything but easy.

The difficulty and intensity of the ACC program help explain why so many representatives of law enforcement agencies were on the Littleton campus Wednesday, Oct. 21: it’s Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Career Day. Law enforcement representatives were in Room M1900 (the multi-purpose room) to answer questions and distribute applications.

The intensity of this program can be measured by the successes of its students and the level of recruitment  that occurs at ACC from various law enforcement agencies.

The LEA at ACC is offered as a full-time or part-time program. It consists of 10 exclusive courses that are 19 or 34 weeks long. After completion, students will have earned 40 credit hours and be prepared to take the Peace Officer’s Standards Training exam, which is a requirement to work as a law enforcement officer in Colorado.

The school graduates five sets of cadets each year, two academies in the Fall and three in the Spring.

Colorado mandates that each cadet completes 720 course hours. “It’s 100% attendance,” said LEA Administrative Assistant Kayla Maestas. “If they (cadets) miss a class, they make up the class.” This can be done with the other ongoing ACC program.

Cadets enrolled in the full-time LEA academy are in class from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday-Thursday. They take eight LEA-specific courses, which cover topics that range from Spanish and Basic First Aid to Driving and Firearms training, and more. Cadets also complete two PT courses that consist of CrossFit Training, aerobics, strength and wellness.

This intense course load may seem like quite the undertaking, but ACC students have proven themselves able to withstand the challenge. Of the 75 cadets who were enrolled in the Spring Academies at the time of the census-date, only two did not complete their certificate program, and one of them is set to graduate with the Academy this Fall.

For more information about the Academy at ACC, stop in at the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Career Day to chat with people who work directly with the program.

You will also have a chance to see the large number of recruitment tables and get an idea of where a Certificate in Law Enforcement could grant you access to a career.