Eastern police swear in Officer Morgan Velez

The Campus Police at Eastern Connecticut State University swore in a new officer on Sept. 20. Morgan Velez will enter the Connecticut Police Academy’s 376th session on Sept. 22 and is expected to graduate on Apr. 3, 2023. After she graduates, Velez will enter Eastern’s Field Training Program.

A graduate of Wolcott High School in 2015, Velez developed an interest in law enforcement while attending Southern Connecticut State University. In 2018, she completed an internship at the Bristol Police Department. “This is what sparked my interest in community policing,” Velez said. Experiences of her internship included ride-alongs with officers as well as learning policy and procedures in the records division and dispatch center.

Velez graduated from Southern in 2019 with honors, earning a bachelor of science in criminology and criminal justice and a minor in forensic science. In 2021, she took the opportunity to be hired by the Connecticut State Police but had to medically resign halfway through the academy due to a knee injury that led to surgery.

Velez is thankful for her new opportunity at Eastern. “I am ecstatic to be joining the community at Eastern,” Velez said. “I’ve been given a second chance at my dream career and it’s in a community that I can engage with, learn about and program with.”

Written by Noel Teter

Categories: Police-Campus Safety