NEW JERSEY COPS n MARCH 2014
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EDUCATION CONNECTION
The road to success…
…is paved with accessible opportunities like those at TESC
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Bryan Gurney was a patrol cop back in the late 1980s and a
member of Ramsey Local 155 when he started looking at the
value of higher education.
He described himself as not much of a student in high school.
“I did nothing, zero. I got through high school without any effort.”
As the 80s gave way to the 90s, he got married, had a couple of
kids and made sergeant. Now, higher education seemed as workable for Gurney as that cold case waiting for the unidentified witness to come forward.
“But I saw how law enforcement was changing,” he said. “I saw
how education had become much more important, particularly
if you wanted to move up.”
Gurney wound up going to school at night for what seemed
like forever, eventually procured his associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree and then the master’s degree that without it, he never
would have made chief. Ramsey Police Chief Gurney knew he
needed a program unlike any other to get his education jump-
started, and he said he found that push from Thomas Edison
State College (TESC).
“I did some research, and when I looked at Thomas Edison I
found I could get credit for life experience,” Chief Gurney
explained. “So I looked at some of things I already had done, and
I thought if I can accumulate some credits and get myself back
into it, the task of going to school and getting the degree wouldn’t be that bad.”
TESC has positioned itself as a very viable option for law
enforcement because it puts a premium on students with handson training and real-life experiences. Like many community colleges, Thomas Edison offers credit for basic police training or
Department of Corrections training. That creates a gateway to
getting the associate’s degree, which in turn provides a leg up on
the bachelor’s degree.
And that’s precisely the path Chief Gurney followed, getting his
Associate’s of Science in Public and Social Services in 1993 and
Bachelor’s of Science in Human Services in 1997.
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