Department Law & Order Chairman June Kelly, who spent 31 years in law enforcement, restarts dormant program she calls ‘incredibly valuable.’
In 2016, a lack of volunteers forced the American Legion Department of Vermont to halt its Law Cadet Program. Vermont students interested in the program had the option to attend a similar program in the Department of New Hampshire.
But that has now changed under the direction of department Law & Order Chairman June Kelly, who spent 31 years working in various aspects of law enforcement. The program returned this year, with 19 high school students graduating on June 27 from the Robert H. Vincelette Law Cadet Program.
The students – 18 of whom were sponsored by American Legion posts – spent six days at the Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford, receiving instruction and mentoring from members or veterans of law enforcement and the military, government workers and others. The participants learned different aspects of law enforcement, including firearm safety, ink fingerprinting and how to identify someone who is intoxicated.
Kelly, historian at American Legion Post 55 in Brandon and a Vermont Air National Guard retiree, said she learned about the Law Cadet Program when her father – also a Legionnaire – volunteered with the program while Kelly was assistant director at the police academy.
“I helped promote it for the 10 years when I was there,” Kelly said. “I said (to Vermont department leadership) a year ago March, ‘The Law Cadet Program’s got to come back to Vermont. We have no pathway for youth.’ I was hell-bent on getting it back here.”
Kelly was voted into chairman of the Law & Order Committee and began the process of restarting the program. “I called in all my favors from my police time and brought in over 30 instructors, mentors, military and law enforcement colleagues,” she said. “We had all the different facets of state, county and local law enforcement that are out there. We had K9 demos, we had the firearms simulator and all kinds of stuff.”
Agencies that took part in the program this year included the Rutland City Police Department; the Vermont State Police; the Vermont Departments of Corrections, Fish & Wildlife, Liquor and Lottery and Motor Vehicles; the Vermont Supreme Court; and members of the Vermont Army and Air National Guard. Post 55 and American Legion Post 50 in Castleton also provided resources.
At the graduation ceremony, Vermont Attorney General Charity R. Clark was the keynote speaker, while Department of Vermont Commander William Brothers presented each of the cadets with their completion certificates.
“It’s creating pathways for youth,” Kelly said. “It’s an incredibly valuable program for us to foster our youth. It’s a program that brings awareness to the pathways that exist in public safety and public service for all these young people. It’s incredibly worthwhile.
“And for the cadets to understand what’s out there in their communities and to create that legacy and continue that is just so important.”
- Junior Law