As Pennsylvania faces a law enforcement shortage, Luzerne County Community College will become the region's newest police academy.
The Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission approved the college's application to become an Act 120 municipal police academy, the school announced.
To be employed as a police officer in Pennsylvania, an individual must complete a certified Act 120 Municipal Police Academy training program and pass the MPOETC state certification exam.
Pennsylvania faces a shortage of more than 1,200 municipal police officers, according to the college.
The academy will benefit the Wilkes-Barre Police Department and all local police departments, Wilkes-Barre City Mayor George Brown said.
"LCCC will provide good quality training for incoming officers," Brown said in a news release. "This designation will also allow newly hired officers to complete their training locally, thus being cost effective for the City of Wilkes-Barre."
The commission wants to add 1,000 new municipal police officers in Pennsylvania by adding new Act 120 Municipal Police Academies to recruit and train new cadets interested in law enforcement careers.
Like many departments, the Hazleton City Police Department is experiencing an officer shortage.
“The opening of this new Act 120 training facility will give people who dream of becoming police officers a chance to turn their dream into reality," Chief Brian Schoonmaker said in the release.
The college's Act 120 academy will operate out of the college’s Public Safety Training Institute on its Nanticoke campus. Tuition will be $5,950 to complete the program. The first group of up to 25 cadets will start in spring 2026.
Pennsylvania has more than two dozen Act 120 programs, including at Lackawanna College and Commonwealth University's Mansfield campus.
Graduates will be qualified to be hired as officers in municipalities across Pennsylvania. Cadets must successfully complete 27 exams, covering five modules of training, with an average score of 80% per module.
For more information, contact Doug Fawbush, the LCCC's director of public safety and security, at (570) 740-0305 or dfawbush@luzerne.edu.
