SUNY Oneonta Law Enforcement Academy

The Otsego County Law Enforcement Academy (OCLEA) was founded by Otsego County Sheriff Donald R. Mundy, Sr. in 1995. The mission of the Academy was to provide a basic course for police officers in Central New York. Many of the communities in the area have small police departments, some with only part-time officers, who need access to this New York State-mandated police training program. Sheriff Mundy recognized the need for a professional law enforcement training center that could provide the necessary basic training for police, as well as the ability to offer in-service training at a reasonable cost to all the officers working for these municipalities. The Academy is pleased to support our Veterans and is a fully V.A. approved school.

Originally, the Academy was situated at the Otsego County Sheriff's office in Cooperstown, NY, but quickly outgrew those facilities. As the SUNY Oneonta University Police Department became more heavily involved in assisting with the Academy, the sheriff sought to expand University Police Department's role. Session #6 of the Basic Course for Police Officers was moved to the SUNY Oneonta campus, to take advantage of the increased space, modern physical fitness facilities and educational classrooms that are available at SUNY Oneonta. University Police joined with the Sheriff's Office to co-sponsor all the training offered by the Academy.

The Academy was renamed SUNY Oneonta Law Enforcement Academy in 2024 and has again been re-vamped and designed to serve cadets both pre-employment (Phase I) and employed (Phase II) while earning the Basic Course for Police Officers Certificate. This new Phase I will allow students and community members seeking a law enforcement career to gain pre-employment certification to accelerate entrance into the field. The Academy directly benefits the entire Central New York and Southern Tier region and provides police departments and sheriff’s offices in Otsego and neighboring counties with high-quality law enforcement training opportunities and access to the corresponding certifications.

The Academy continues under the direction and leadership of Sheriff Richard R. Devlin, Jr., University Police Chief Dirk R. Budd, and Assistant Director, Joseph Galante.