The Lackawanna College Police Academy will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a special event on Wednesday, April 12, from 6-9 p.m. at La Buona Vita, 200 Reilly St., Dunmore. Tickets are $75, and proceeds will become part of the fundraising campaign that will allow the Academy to continue to deliver state-of-the-art training to its cadets and active law enforcement agencies.
The event will include remarks from special guest Kris “Tanto” Paronto, a former Army Ranger from 2nd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment and private security contractor. Paronto was part of the CIA annex security team that responded to the terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012. His story has been chronicled in the book “13 Hours” that also became a major motion picture in 2016.
As part of the event, the Academy is seeking nominations of alumni who exemplify their creed of “Mission and Service Before Self.” Officers who have a positive impact on the relationship between their departments and the communities they serve should be considered for nomination. Any officer in a supervisory position in their department or any president or vice president of a police union or police benevolent association may nominate a fellow officer. All nominees must be Lackawanna College Police Academy graduates.
Sponsors for the event include Toyota of Scranton, premier sponsor; DePietro Pharmacy, gold sponsor; Mazzoni Karam Petorak & Valvano, PC, and Starr Uniform, silver sponsors; Atty. Rick Fanucci; Atty. Corey J. Kolcharno; Atty. Gene Talerico; Boyle Trucking; DHD I, LLC; Matiolli Foundation/Pocono Raceway; Northeastern Eye Institute; Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel, LLP; Scranton Running Co.; and the Wilkes-Barre City Police Benevolent Association, “Back the Blue” sponsors. Other sponsorship opportunities are still available.
The Academy was originally certified by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission in Harrisburg, Pa., on April 21, 1977. Lackawanna College is the first and continues to be the only private college in Northeastern Pennsylvania authorized to provide ACT 120 training. Thousands of Academy alumni actively serve as police officers throughout Pennsylvania, and as chiefs of police, attorneys, sheriffs, and as agents of state and federal agencies.
Tickets for the “Celebrating Our Legacy” event may be purchased by contacting Denise Boyle, Police Academy Administrative Assistant, at boyled@lackawanna.edu. More information about the event and sponsorship opportunities are available at www.lackawanna.edu/policeacademy.
