BENTON COUNTY -- The Minnesota Sheriff’s Association is accepting applications for one of up to 20 $2,000 scholarships through the annual Law Enforcement Scholarship Program.

To qualify, a student must be one of the following:

  • In the mandated POST Skills Program
  • In the second year of a two-year law enforcement program
  • In the third or fourth year of a four-year criminal justice program
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Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck explains what the association is looking for.

So we're looking for folks that have chosen law enforcement as a career path. So you have to be either in what's called the skills portion of the law enforcement program, that's kind of the last bit of training that somebody who's considering a career in law enforcement goes through, or you have to be in your second of a two-year program, or your third or fourth year of a four-year program at a college or university.

The scholarship applications are currently available at the following locations:

Heck says the scholarship is used to help a candidate while moving from the classroom into the squad car.

It's a very complex job, a lot of things you have to learn. When you get to that point of being licensed by the agency, that's the bare minimum threshold of being competent. We're going to have to take those skills and teach you how to do that job in Benton County. So we're going to let you know what our policies are, we're going to let you know how to operate our vehicles, we're going to let you know what our community expects out of you.

Applications must be submitted by November 19th, with the winners announced on December 28th.

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