One Municipal Drive                   Derry, New Hampshire 03038                        www.nhchiefsofpolice.com


New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police

ESTABLISHED 1997

In 1997, a third year was added to the Police Cadet Training Academy. This was brought about by a vision of a Staff member who felt that cadets should have an opportunity to learn about being a leader and to prepare themselves for a career in the law enforcement field. Patrick Golden started out his career as a police officer and then became the Exploring Executive for the Daniel Webster Council. The Cadet Academy has always had a partnership with the Council. Because of Pat Golden’s background in both areas, he was able to formulate a curriculum that met the needs of a cadet who truly wanted to experience what is expected of a law enforcement officer.

The classes include leadership, crime scene investigations and diagramming, and Simunitions. Not only is it more hands on training, but it also involves developing relationships as a team. There is a limit of twenty cadets in the Leadership class. Instructors and Staff get to know each cadet on a more personal basis and this allows for better training and understanding. Discussions go beyond the classroom and cadets are able to get real world experience from the Staff and Instructors.

Leadership cadets are expected to develop a high level of trust amongst each other, which leads to a strong bond of friendship. A police officer needs to trust their fellow officers in a situation and so do cadets. This level of training is not even experienced at a full-time police academy because it deals with leadership, which is a topical area reserved for supervisors which usually comes later in a police officer’s career.