Tulsa PD Offers Paid Internships to NMSU Criminal Justice Students: Why Not LCPD?

As police departments across the country continue to struggle with officer shortages, there is an internship program at New Mexico State University that is helping criminal justice students get the experience they need to help fill that empty, but that program does not involve the Las Cruces police, but instead involves the Tulsa Police Department in Oklahoma.

When KFOX14 learned that the Tulsa PD, which is 12 hours away, works directly with NMSU to provide internships to criminal justice students, I asked why doesn’t the LCPD do this?

So KFOX14 put that question directly to LCPD and NMSU Criminal Justice Department Chief Dr. Dennis Giever.

“The Tulsa recruiters are all graduates of our program,” Giever said.

Because of that connection, Giever said this paid internship program has been in place for years.

The opportunity with the academy is they get paid, they’re actually hired as cadets, they get paid as they go,” Giever said. “What we do with the Tulsa Police Department is students can finish their last semester while at the Tulsa Police Academy as an internship for our program.

An internship is required for students to get their degree anyway, so Giever said it’s the perfect recipe for experience and even getting a job as an officer as soon as they graduate, if they want to, of course.

“The unique thing about this program is I can go back and say, you know what, it was fun, but I don’t want to do this anymore, I’m going somewhere else,” Giever said.

Internships like these come as departments across the country face a shortage of officers, and that includes Las Cruces police.

We asked LCPD Deputy Chief Eric Urenda why such a program has not been offered at the local level.

We are currently in the process of establishing an internship program. Recruiting locally is what we would really like, especially because they are familiar with the area and will be staying in town, specifically recruiting from NMSU,” Urenda said. “So that we can initiate the exact same partnership that the Tulsa PD currently has with them.

Dr. Giever said he believes the local collaboration will attract more students to help fill the void of officers in their own community.

“We’re more than happy and looking forward to working with the Las Cruces Police Department and essentially having the same type of understanding,” Giever said.

Deputy Chief Urenda said the LCPD is in the process of finalizing a memorandum of understanding with NMSU that will help them recruit criminal justice students for paid internships locally, which will also allow the students to join his academy, quickly following the path to the badge. After graduation. NMSU officials tell KFOX14 they believe the MOU should be finalized within the next few months.

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