New part of college off to a good start with 45 graduates

Forty-five new police officers graduated from the first class of the Northern Essex Community College/Methuen Police Academy in a ceremony at the college on June 26.

Michael J. Havey, Jr. of Methuen, who has worked as a part-time police officer and a security guard at Northern Essex, has been hired by the Methuen Police Department, and he was planning to start his first shift that Sunday at 12:30 a.m.

“I loved this program,” he said. “It was very challenging and I learned a ton.”

Havey always wanted to be a police officer and he’s following in the footsteps of his father, Michael J. Havey, Sr., who has been with the Methuen Police Department for 30 years.

His father received his associate degree from Northern Essex.

The 46 graduates— a quarter of whom are veterans—have been hired by 16 different police departments in Massachusetts.

They completed an intensive 21-week program that covered constitutional law, prevention and intervention, community policing, domestic violence, elder abuse, victims’ rights, and other topics.

All training took place on the Haverhill Campus except for fire arms training and emergency driving techniques which were held at off-campus locations.