Criminal Justice
We’re excited to congratulate Christopher Medina ‘22, who recently graduated from the inaugural Massachusetts Probation Officer Academy in Worcester.
Christopher, a Criminal Justice graduate from Elms College, is a part of the first cohort to complete this comprehensive training program.
The academy, launched in January, represents the first time in nearly 30 years that new probation officers in Massachusetts received any formal, structured training beyond on-the-job training.
The Probation Officer Training Academy is operated by the Massachusetts Probation Service, a state agency that operates under the umbrella of the Massachusetts Courts.
The academy provides new probation officers with the skills and tools they will need to perform their jobs, including legal principles, evidence-based practice, risk assessment, probation violations, conflict resolution, and officer safety.
Christopher reflected on his time at Elms College, “My experience at Elms not only prepared for me for the challenges of the everyday work I do, but I was set up with all the necessary tools to understand that there is so much more to criminal justice than someone committing a crime. People’s background and how they were raised plays a major part in getting involved in the criminal justice system. Elms College’s criminal justice program exposed me to what exactly recidivism is and how it plays a major role in criminal justice involvement. With the knowledge I gained at Elm’s College I feel like I’m very prepared to help with recidivism. I’m eternally thankful to the Professors at Elms College who challenged me to pursue my goals.”
Congratulations again, Christopher!
Learn more about the Criminal Justice program at Elms: https://www.elms.edu/academics/social-sciences/criminal-justice/
The Probation Officer Training Academy is operated by the Massachusetts Probation Service, a state agency that operates under the umbrella of the Massachusetts Courts.
The academy was launched in January of this year to provide new probation officers with the skills and tools they will need to perform their jobs, including legal principals, evidence-based practice, assessment, probation violations, conflict resolution and officer safety.
Medina is among the 27 members of the academy’s first graduating class. The new probation officers will be assigned to 21 courts in eight of the state’s 12 counties.
The training took place over two weeks at the Massachusetts Probation Service Training and Operations Center (MTOC) in Clinton.
