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Chief Joel F. Shults is the Chief of
Police of the Adams State College Police Department (Alamosa, Colorado). Chief Joel F. Shults “earned
his doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He
began his law enforcement training after US Army basic combat training by attending the US Army Military Police School. He
served in the Missouri Army National Guard as a Military Police Investigator with MP and CID units before transferring to
the US Air Force Reserves in air cargo. Staff Sergeant Shults served overseas operations in Germany, Japan, and Honduras as
well as State Emergency Duty when activated by Missouri's Governor.
Shults won the St. Louis Globe-Dispatch
award for outstanding recruit with his service to the MoArNG. Officer Shults was sworn in to his first civilian police position
as an officer with the Warrensburg Police Department while still attending college. After a brief period of field training
and his first six months as a patrol officer Shuts attended the Basic Law Enforcement Academy at the Missouri State Highway
Patrol Training Academy in Jefferson City, MO. Shults later attended the MSHP's supervision school and served as class
chaplain. While with WPD Shults served as shift supervisor, investigator, community relations officer, field training officer,
and coordinator of reserve officers and interns.
Shults ran for the elective office
of sheriff and after a close race was appointed Chief of Police for the combined police services of two small Missouri towns.
After serving there Shults retired briefly from law enforcement to work in the insurance and real estate
appraisal business for a short time before accepting a position in Kansas City as head of the Tarkio College law enforcement
program where he served as supervisor of admissions, lead instructor, and supervisor over adjunct faculty. Shults and his
family next moved to Trinidad, Colorado to join the faculty of Trinidad State College where he taught academic courses and
instructed in the Southern Colorado Law Enforcement Training Academy on the college grounds as well as extension courses and
individual police training classes throughout southern Colorado. Shults attended the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Academy in Glynco, GA for instructor training in emergency vehicle operations. He also did a special study of computerized
training of police officers with the California POST staff in Sacramento. While at Trinidad State, Shults worked as a police
officer on a part-time basis with the Trinidad Police Department. He also continued post graduate studies taking courses at
the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Shults left teaching when he was appointed as Chief of Police for the City
of Walsenburg, CO.
Chief Shults returned to Missouri to
become Professor Shults with appointment to the Administration of Justice faculty at Hannibal-LaGrange College, a small Baptist
college in northeast Missouri next to the Mississippi river. During his tenure at HLG, Shults also served as Director of Security
for the campus. In the community Shults was appointed as a reserve police officer for the City of Hannibal and a reserve deputy
sheriff for the Marion County Sheriff's Department. He served both of the agencies as Chaplain and was a member of the
IACP and the International Conference of Police Chaplains.
He travelled to New York City in October
of 2001 to volunteer for the United Way after the World Trade Center attacks and rode on patrol with NYPD. Shults also served
as an appointed member of the Marion County 911 Board, and with the Coroner's Office as a Deputy Coroner. Professor Shults
presented at the Las Vegas meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences on the topic of teaching collaboration in basic
police academies in Colorado. He was a guest trainer in sexual harassment awareness for the Missouri State Southern Baptist
Convention staff. Shults also served as Site Director for the Missouri Sheriff's Associate Law Enforcement Training Academy
hosted at HLG, and served on the advisory board and as adjunct faculty at the Law Enforcement Training Center of Moberly Area
Community College.
He was a member of the Missouri Narcotics
Officer Association and served as the state organization's Chaplain. Shults' most recent appointment was as Director
of Public Safety at Adams State College in Alamosa, CO. Chief Shults reorganized the DPS into the Adams State College Police
Department and has prioritized training and collaboration with local law enforcement agencies. Chief Shults serves with several
community organizations including the San Luis Valley Peace Officers Association, SLV Law Enforcement Training Foundation,
SLV Drug Task Force, Crime Stoppers, Anti-Violence Committee, Sexual Assault Prevention Task Force, School Violence Prevention
Committee, the ASC Incident Management Planning Committee, and the ASC Students of Concern Committee.
Chief Joel F. Shults was appointed
to the Colorado POST curriculum committee serving as a subject matter expert, and is active in the Colorado Association of
Institutional Law Enforcement Directors. Dr. Shults has presented safety awareness training to churches,
campuses, and other audiences. Dr. Shults has been published in several major newspapers and in widely read electronic newsletters.” Chief Joel F. Shults is the author
of Is The Line Ready?
A Policeman's Perspective on Worldly
Wisdom. According to the book description it is “A year's
worth of daily wisdom with commentary from the police perspective.”
About the Adams State
College Police Department According to the Adams State College Police Department they are “the primary law enforcement provider for Adams
State College. The mission of Adams State College Police Department is, in stewardship of the authority with which we are
entrusted, in partnership with the community we serve, to maintain a safe and orderly environment for learning and working.”
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