Trine’s American Criminal Justice Association chapter wins 54 awards

Trine’s American Criminal Justice Association chapter wins 54 awards

ANGOLA, Ind.— In what has become standard procedure, Trine University’s Tau Alpha Omicron chapter of the American Criminal Justice Association (ACJA) brought home 54 awards from the 2012 regional conference Oct. 5-7 in Milwaukee. This breaks last year’s regional conference record of 43 awards.

Students claimed 45 team and individual awards at the conference of the ACJA, which improves criminal justice through educational activities, promotes professionalism in law enforcement and awareness of criminal justice issues, encourages the expansion of criminal justice education and training, provides a voice for professionals and students of criminal justice and promotes high ethical standards in conduct, training and higher education.

For the first time in 13 years of competition, the TAO chapter won the Sweepstakes Award for earning the highest number of awards at the conference, Top Gun, Top Academics and Spirit Award.

“Our students competed against several different universities and colleges from throughout the Midwest,” Laker said. “I am very proud of their accomplishments and teamwork. Applying their education at Trine University to real world applications is critical for their future career plans.”

The students and faculty members, Professors Craig Laker and John Milliken, competed in handgun marksmanship. In handgun upper division team competition, John Daniel, Amiee Huston and Colin Arona won first place, and Kate Wegert, Jeremiah Hardwick and Ruth Feliciano took second place. In lower division, the team of Zach Terrell, Marc Edwards and Andrew O’Connor won first place. Also in the professional division, the team of Laker, Milliken and Julia Nell won first place. Andrew Wilhelm won the Top Gun Award for having the highest score overall among the competitors with a score of 422/480, Hardwick came in second with a score of 421/480 and Laker won second in the professional division.

Among crime scene investigation three-member teams, in the upper division the team of Nell, Daniel and Arona won first place; Wegert, Feliciano and Hardwick won second and third place went to Wilhelm, Howard and Nichols. In lower division, Terrell, Edwards and O’Connor placed second.

In physical agility, the team swept first, second and third places in the female and male younger than 25 categories, where Wegert won first place in the female division and Howard placed first in among males.

Trine students also fared well on ACJA written exams. In all divisions, the students and faculty won 23 awards including Wegert winning Top Academic Award for the student with the most placements in all categories. The written exams covered the criminal justice areas of criminal law, juvenile justice, police management, corrections and knowledge of the national ACJA chapter, Lambda Alpha Epsilon.

Trine students plan to attend the National ACJA conference scheduled for April 21-26, 2013, in Valley Forge, Pa.