Last Updated on November 10, 2025 2:24 pm
BOONE, N.C. — This fall, 15 new graduates of Appalachian State University’s Appalachian Police Academy, a component of the Appalachian Police Officer Development Program (APDP), join more than 150 police officers trained by APDP to date. The graduates serve as sworn North Carolina police officers, working part time for the Appalachian Police Department (APD).
App State’s eighth annual Appalachian Police Academy graduation ceremony, held in September in Rosen Concert Hall on the Boone campus, included the presentation of awards of distinction, as well as remarks from class speaker Benjamin Inman and two guest speakers — KC Mitchell, retired APD captain and former director of police development and professional standards at App State, and Richard Gilliland, Caldwell County’s director of animal control enforcement, who was chosen by the students.
“We are so very proud of our students’ hard work,” said App State Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Johnny Brown, who opened the ceremony. “The dedication they show to their training, to our organization and to each other is truly special. We know their successes and their bright futures are just beginning here as we celebrate this important milestone.”
Brown also thanked Chancellor Heather Norris and Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Brown for their ongoing support of the program. And he recognized Mitchell and special guest Andy Stephenson, former App State director of public safety and chief of police and APDP founder, for their dedication to App State’s students and professional development for police officers. Stephenson currently serves as public safety training director for safety and emergency operations at the University of North Carolina System Office.
APDP is a two-year program available to all full-time App State students pursuing any academic major or course of study. The program includes the Appalachian Police Academy, a fully accredited Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) school through which recruits complete the training to become sworn police officers in North Carolina. After completing the academy, graduates work part time with APD as sworn officers until they graduate from App State with their degrees.
When cadets enter the academy in their second year of the program, they become police recruits and complete hundreds of training hours. Following in the steps of their predecessors, this year’s academy class exceeded the state’s BLET standard of 640 hours of training, completing a total of 750 hours between August 2024 and August 2025. Their training included:
- First responder training, in which recruits learn basic life support skills such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), use of automated external defibrillators (AED) and critical first aid skills.
- De-escalation training, in which recruits learn techniques and strategies to defuse potentially dangerous situations.
- Communication skills training, in which recruits develop the skills they will use to help guide, organize, respond to and better understand the needs of others in the community.
Beginning next spring, academy participants will be required to complete more than 800 hours of training, to align with the state’s new BLET requirements. Participants will journey to Samarcand Training Academy, a North Carolina Department of Public Safety training facility in Jackson Springs, where they will complete BLET over the course of the spring 2026 semester, from January through June.
App State Director of Police Development Cameron Masin ’20, an App State alumnus and 2019 graduate of APDP's Police Academy, presented each graduate with their certificate of completion.
“You’ve been tested in the classroom and on the training grounds, and in those moments when you may have wondered if you had what it took to become a police officer, each of you stood tall,” said Masin in his address to the graduates. “You’re still standing today — but as officers ready to serve and respond to a calling. The badge you now wear is not only a symbol but a promise to serve with fairness, to protect others and to lead by example.”
“Our students will have a long career, one where they will see a lot of difficult things, but their work in the community is so rewarding,” Mitchell said. “It is the legacy of this program — and our students at App State and the difference they will all make in this state and in this country — that I am most proud of.”
In his address to his peers, Inman, a junior criminal justice major from Clyde, reflected on lessons learned during the summer’s training and thanked instructors for their mentorship and ongoing support.
“Thank you for not going easy on us and for pushing us harder, every day,” said Inman. “You taught us how to survive in real-life situations, how to make decisions under pressure, how to think through and resolve problems and listen — how to be good cops.”
Gilliland commended the graduates for their diligence and perseverance in the intensive BLET school and encouraged them to be lifelong learners as they advance into their future law enforcement careers.
“Each of you will be called to act in moments of crisis, to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves and to stand for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Remain teachable, humble and hungry for this work that you will do.”
