Vision Statement
The vision of the Regional Public Safety Institute at Raritan Valley
Community College is to develop a state of the art facility which serves the education
and training needs of all members of the Criminal Justice System. This includes basic
and continuing education for police, corrections, and officers of the courts. In
addition, the process of administering a formal two year Criminal Justice education
and facilitating undergraduate and graduate education by developing partnerships
with other four year colleges and universities is a top priority.
Somerset County Prosecutor
"On behalf of all law enforcement in Somerset County and as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the county, I welcome you to the website of the Somerset County Police Academy. In 2008 the Academy will be celebrating its 20th year of producing outstanding police officers through the Academy’s nationally acclaimed Police Recruit Training Program.
The Somerset County Police Academy is the only regional academy in the State of new Jersey, as we serve Somerset, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Warren and Sussex counties. Law enforcement agency heads from these five counties are involved in the Academy’s operation and officers from their departments serve as members of the Academy’s cadre of instructors.
In addition to our 6 month Police Recruit Training program the Academy also administers County Corrections Officers Basic Training and beginning in January 2008 will train all prospective New Jersey State Parole Officers in the same challenging training philosophy as we do I our police and corrections programs.
Additionally, over 1000 continuing law enforcement education programs are offered on a wide variety of topics relative to the mission of enhancing the knowledge and skills of law enforcement officers during their respective careers.
Our ultimate goal is to provide professional law enforcement officers to their departments and the communities they serve and to properly prepare them to have a safe and successful career. To accomplish this goal and to fulfil our mission, as our motto reads:
“It’s a Matter of Pride.”
“Welcome, my name is Dr. Richard Celeste, Executive director of the Regional Safety Institute and Academy Director.
Please browse this website and learn about the academy and all that it offers. For those of you interested in a law enforcement career my hope is that you will learn about the profession and be guided by the information on this site. For veteran officers, the continuing education offerings, class updates and the links page will provide you with valuable information.
I wish to publicly thank all the law enforcement agencies that we serve and those agency leaders that have supported the academy mission. Only with the support of Raritan Valley Community College, Prosecutor’s, Chiefs, Directors and Sheriffs, we would not have the capability to provide the programs that we do.
Our philosophy has been consistent over our entire existence and that is to provide quality training and education in an environment that is conducive to learning. All of our basic training programs combine enhanced academics in a very challenging environment. This challenging environment has been carefully designed to develop and produce professional, caring law enforcement officers.
Our ultimate desire is that these officers move the law enforcement profession forward in a positive direction. We wish to challenge all our student officers to personally “Be the Change” in their profession.”
Executive Director
Raritan Valley Regional Public Safety Institute
Deputy Chief, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office (Ret.)
Mission Statement
The mission of the Academy is to provide a high quality educational
environment to all those who attend the Academy. The underlying principle common
to all programs offered at the Academy is the fact that the training, wherever possible,
will have a hands-
Our experience has shown that hands-
