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CR Hires New Director of Administration of Justice

CR Hires New Director of Administration of Justice

Published on 11/5/2020.

College of the Redwoods has hired a new Director of Administration of Justice, Michael Perkins. Greg Allen, a Humboldt County Sheriff who has been teaching classes for CR for years, will join Perkins as the Basic Police Academy Coordinator.

 “I’m looking forward to bringing my 28 years of experience in law enforcement training to the College of the Redwoods Law Enforcement Academy,” said Perkins. “Productive community-oriented policing requires exceptional communication, not just from the peacekeepers but from the community itself.  My goal is to guide our law enforcement training towards a creative problem-solving mindset with an emphasis on communication.” 

Perkins will replace Ron Waters who is retiring in December after 15 years with the district. As one of his last acts as Director, he facilitated the Basic Law Enforcement Academy Advisory Committee, comprised of local law enforcement leadership as well as representatives from Native Tribes and Black, LGBTQ, and Latinx interest groups, to take a comprehensive look at our Law Enforcement Academy’s curriculum in order to address racial bias.

 “I want to thank Ron for his commitment to College of the Redwoods and his leadership over the Academy over the years,” said CR President Keith Flamer. “CR took action to review our police academy curriculum in the wake of national protests against police violence. The police academy advisory committee, augmented by several community members, has met several times over the past few months. I look forward to receiving their recommendations for the improvement of the academy curriculum in future years.”

Some of the activities for the current class have included Community Conversations with advisory members that have covered LGBTQIA+, gender, personal wellness, and native culture issues.  Students have also done Cultural Immersion reports, where they identified a cultural group they were not a part of, did research on the group, interviewed at least three members of the group, and spent 8-hours immersed in the culture, trying to understand the way other live. This project started in 2018, and was cited as an exemplary project by the Basic Course Certification Review in 2019. Two Basic Academy instructors will also be going to a De-Escalation Train-The-Trainer course in Sacramento in early January, and will incorporate that training into the curriculum.

“What is clear to me is that our police academy curriculum is already progressive,” added President Flamer. “We’re asking that our new Director of AJ, Michael Perkins, build on the work already accomplished.”


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Photos: New Director of Administration of Justice Michael Perkins.

Retiring CR Director of Administration of Justice, Ron Waters, at his desk in 2005.

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