 
My name's Patrick McNair
I work with the Mt. Gilead Police Department.
 I've been with them for about three years. I'm going to Montgomery Community College 
and I'm studying criminal justice. Prior to 
coming back to MCC  for the BLET
program,
I had driven a truck for the previous 15 years and
and I just saw too many too many old
broken down truck drivers and decided
that I was not going to be one of them
at the age of 44. I came back into the
 college atmosphere here at MCC
and took BLET. Coming back to school
after almost thirty years, I was a bit
apprehensive
however, when I actually got into the
college and
taking classes, I found out that there
was a really good mixture here
of people and I really enjoyed it.
The small college atmosphere in a small-town atmosphere
helped to really set me at ease.
 I was probably six months into my studies at MCC whenever I applied for the job at
Albemarle Correction.
A couple months later I was called in to
do the job interview and they were very interested 
in my educational background,
asking specific questions about what
courses I had already had and what courses I
had
I had coming up, and I think that may have played a dramatic role in
 me getting the job.
 Criminal justice can enhance job
opportunities.
 Because of the field that its in, there's
so many different
directions you can go in in criminal
justice. There's literally thousands of jobs
that you can get. It opens up a lot of doors.
To get on with a lot of the larger agencies and certainly with the state
 you almost have to have 
a two-year degree. I have learned so much
in this program. There are
so many diversities of people that we have
to deal with on a day-to-day basis.
We have learned how to cope and
enhance our special needs and skills
in order to perform investigations that
that we may have to do
in my current job setting or
as I pursue my education in
upper standings like parole and probation.
We actually did
practical stops today which is learning
how to stop a vehicle.
We're also learning how to deal with people. Some of the classes I've taken are 
psychology, civil liability
and things of that nature. For me, the best
thing in the criminal justice program
is the fact that I am able to take it
completely online
in my own time. I was able to actually take
some seated classes and schedule those and then take the remainder my classes
online.
It actually worked out really well and
it helps me to manage my time
 pretty efficiently. MCC is just a great atmosphere.
It's a wonderful learning atmosphere, it's a good environment,
you won't find anybody that's gonna help you any more than the folks here.
and hotel
