![\"Kevin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775176453_616_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nCadets studying at Lackawanna College\u2019s Police Academy learn patrol procedures in class.<\/p>\n
Through a new partnership with Scranton Police, those same cadets will go on ride-a-longs with working officers.<\/p>\n
“If we expect the best of our officers, we must provide the best to them. That means high-quality training, the right tools and continuous opportunities for professional growth,” Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll said. “This partnership with Lackawanna College represents exactly that. It shows our officers and our future officers that we care about their development and their long term success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carroll joined Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti and Kevin Mahoney, director of police academy operations at Lackawanna College, Thursday at the Scranton Police Department to announce the collaboration. They were flanked by six cadets from Lackawanna.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, cadets from Lackawanna College\u2019s Scranton and Hazleton campuses will have access to the City of Scranton\u2019s cutting-edge, state-of-the-art training technology. Officers do not have to work in Scranton after graduation.<\/p>\n
For almost 50 years, the academy has educated over 1,000 officers. Most of Scranton\u2019s officers graduated from the academy.<\/p>\n
The new program will be in addition to the current Pennsylvania municipal police officers training, known as Act 120, and Lackawanna’s curriculum. <\/p>\n
Through the partnership, Lackawanna College will provide four full scholarships annually to members of the Scranton Police Department for most undergraduate associate and bachelor level degrees. All department employees and their dependents will be eligible for tuition discounts.<\/p>\n
“When we invest in officers and officer training, we are making a long-term investment in safer neighborhoods, a safer city and a safer work environment for our officers,” Cognetti said.<\/p>\n
The collaboration is anticipated to start this fall.<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Police Collab audience.JPG\n <\/p>\n
Scranton Police officers and others listen as Kevin Mahoney, director of police academy operations at Lackawanna College, discusses a new collaboration between the college and the department.<\/p>\n
Kat Bolus \/ WVIA News<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Poilce Collab Carroll.JPG\n <\/p>\n
Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll discusses a new collaboration between the department and Lackawanna College’s Police Academy. <\/p>\n
Kat Bolus \/ WVIA News <\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Police Collab Paige.JPG\n <\/p>\n
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti’s discussed the city’s investment in technology for the police department and how it will benefit future officers. <\/p>\n
Kat Bolus \/ WVIA News<\/p>\n
Experience before graduation<\/p>\n
Mahoney and Carroll worked together to create the program.<\/p>\n
“We are the largest law enforcement agency in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and it only makes sense, with the college right up the road, the academy, that we have a part in educating and providing that experience,” Carroll said.<\/p>\n
The city has invested over $5 million in technology and equipment for the police department, Cognetti said. That includes its MILO (Multiple Interactive Learning Objectives) system.<\/p>\n
Carroll said it\u2019s an interactive and immersive simulation technology that provides real-life scenarios for officers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kevin Mahoney, director of police academy operations at Lackawanna College, says a new collaboration between the college and Scranton’s Police Department will develope more experienced and highly trained police officers.<\/p>\n
The new partnership opens up that technology and more to the cadets.<\/p>\n
“They’re also going to be exposed to drone technology and forensic technology. These are all things that will bring the academy that much more closer to real life police work. So when they’re coming out, nothing is really new to them, and they have some experience in it,\u201d Mahoney said. <\/p>\n
Mahoney entered the state police in 1996. He retired as lieutenant in June 2021 and started at the academy in July of the same year.<\/p>\n
“It’s a lot different from what you read in the book to when you face a situation in real life,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mahoney’s goal as director is top bring more technology into the academy. <\/p>\n
“The more experience they have in those type of scenarios, is absolutely going to be give them a leg up when they get out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The city is setting a national standard for how modern policing should work, Cognetti said. <\/p>\n
“This partnership with Lackawanna College helps us bring up the next generation of officers,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cadets studying at Lackawanna College\u2019s Police Academy learn patrol procedures in class. Through a new partnership with Scranton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-155872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}