BOULDER, Colo. — To become a police officer, the Boulder Police Department requires a two-year college degree, 60 college credit hours or the equivalent in military service
The department's current academy class has two recruits that not only meet those requirements, but exceed them by a wide margin.
After graduating from college, Jacob Kuhn served in the Marines for several years and then got his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree before realizing that he wanted more out of life than a desk job.
"I didn't feel like I was having a positive impact on my community working just for money," Kuhn said.
According to Kuhn, his many years in school have helped him in the classroom portion of his police training.
Even with an MBA, Kuhn is not the most highly-degreed recruit in the current Boulder police academy. That distinction belongs to Johnsa Phares.
"I've had my Ph.D. for a while, but it still feels really weird when people call me doctor," Phares said.
Phares was a police officer in Texas for several years before becoming a school counselor in the Dominican Republic. Then, in 2019, he got his Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision at Adams State University in Colorado, where, after graduating, he joined the faculty.
"My dissertation was looking at the relationship between distress and mental health outcomes in law enforcement," Phares said.
Phares said he enjoyed the academic life, but after a while, he felt called to return to policing.
"This was just a move I needed to make," Phares said.
Now he's back in the academy, where he sometimes uses his advanced degree to fend off ribbing from fellow recruits.
"Someone will say something along the lines of, 'that was kind of dumb,' and I'll be like, 'that's Dr. Dumb to you,'" Phares joked.
Phares said he believes his particular doctoral studies will make him not just a well-educated police officer, but a better one, as well.
"The mental health background will help me when working on the street," Phares said.
Once he's sworn in, Phares will be the second current Boulder police officer with a Ph.D., out of the 173 officers now on the force.
Phares said he's eager to apply all that he's learned in all of his classrooms to help make Boulder a better and safer city.
"With my skill set and my personality and just the things that I bring to the table, I think it's where I can have the most impact," Phares said.
If all goes according to schedule, Phares and Kuhn will graduate from the police academy on June 2.
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