Summer-Student Basic Academy

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

Faced with tough economic times, county governments are increasingly looking for ways to cut their budgets without diminishing the quality of service that they have been recognized for. In Henrico County, the Sheriff’s department has collaborated with local universities to save taxpayers over $200,000 in prison guard salaries through an academic summer internship program. The Summer-Student Basic Academy is a nine-credit internship program that lasts for nine weeks during the summer months. Students in good standing at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Virginia Union University (VUU) who are interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement apply to the Academy to work as prison guards. These unpaid interns fill a void where otherwise paid prison guards would work, while also gaining excellent experience in the criminal justice field. Working five days a week from 8:00AM to 4:30PM, the students earn six academic credits from the internship alone. The university students are also required to enroll in an online course entitled “Jails and Issues in Short-Term Detention”, giving them an academic background to their internship experience. The program is very successful in Henrico County. Nearly 60 students applied for the internship program which accepts only 20 interns each round. Of these 20 students, 19 became active part-time employees of the Henrico County Sheriff’s Office and began to fill shift shortages created by vacancies. The benefit of part-time employees back filling for full time staff positions is the substantial reduction in cost based on hourly rate as opposed to paying full-time staff members at an overtime rate or time and a half. Applauded by Congressman Eric Cantor for going “beyond traditional measures and improving services while saving taxpayer dollars”, this program costs the county nothing and saves over $200,000 in prison salaries.