KINGSTON, R.I. – March 23, 2022 – Nicole Wagner always looked forward to the afternoon sessions at the Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy.
These were the moments when the cadets would leave their heavy sandbags outside – to be returned to tomorrow – and enter the classroom where they’d learn what it takes to be a police officer.
Wagner spent months learning from academic instructors and guest lecturers about the importance of policing, criminal procedure and traffic laws. She graduated from the police academy at the top of her class.
“I didn’t expect it. I knew I did well on tests, but I didn’t think I was valedictorian,” said Wagner, who is originally from Mansfield, Massachusetts, but now based in Richmond. “It made me feel good, and it gave me a sense of confidence going into my job saying ‘I do know this material.’”
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Johnson & Wales University in 2020, Wagner said she felt primed for the academic rigor of the academy. She helped her classmates by making and sharing study guides for major exams because she had a background in the field. Yet, she knew she still had a lot to learn.
“The academy taught me to expect the unexpected,” Wagner said. “Things can change in a split second. They kept saying ‘keep your head on a swivel.’ Be prepared at any moment.”
After her graduation in May, she was ready to get to work. She joined the URI Police Department full-time as a University Police Officer (UPO) I. Now, just a year after her hiring, she’s already been promoted to UPO II.
Wagner said she appreciates the one-of-a-kind sense of community that comes with being a police officer at a university like URI. Wagner has attended many community events throughout her past year on campus, such as URI Police’s pop-up outside the library during finals weeks in December, where she helped hand out snacks to students alongside some other officers.
Her first day on the job after graduating from the academy was a big one: the May 2021 commencement weekend – one of the largest events on campus since the COVID-19 pandemic began. While working at the event, she said many parents approached her with gratitude for keeping their children safe. Despite only being at URI for a short time at that point, Wagner was touched.
After seeing what events like Commencement, Alumni and Family Weekend and New Student orientation looked like in Kingston, Wagner knew she wanted to find ways to engage with the community in these crowded spaces. For this reason, she took it upon herself to become a bicycle-certified police officer. She said she appreciates the ease and accessibility of being able to traverse the crowded, traffic-heavy campus on a bike during major events.
Wagner also recently became taser-certified and is now serving as one of two taser instructors for the URI Police Department.
“Today’s police officers have to be well-rounded,” said Chief of Police Michael Jagoda, also URI’s director of public safety. “I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about her work ethic. She’s trying to enhance her skill set, and I find that very commendable. She really represents the community members we serve.”
Despite being the youngest person on the URI squad, Wagner is determined to make an impact, vowing to learn as much as she can to enhance her policing skills.
She said she feels well-supported by her colleagues and fellow police officers with many years of experience under their belts. Nonetheless, Wagner is committed to making sure she is the best police officer for the URI community that she can be.
“I’ve always wanted to be the person that people can come to, not that people are scared of,” Wagner said – a philosophy she works hard to maintain.
Kate LeBlanc, a senior journalism and political science major at the University of Rhode Island and an intern in the Department of Communications and Marketing, wrote this press release.