Credit: Friends of Tina Davis
The face, and place, of municipal police training is changing for generations to come in Bucks County.
Former Temple University police academy director Chris Willard will now lead the Bucks County Municipal Police Academy.
Bucks County Community College announced Willard’s hiring, tasking the 15-year veteran with overseeing academy operations, cadet training, and state compliance.
Vice President for Workforce & Strategic Partnerships Tracy Timby said, “With our strong foundation of firefighting, EMT, and paramedic training in Bucks County and beyond, the police academy rounds out our public safety training portfolio and will help to make our communities safer places to live, work, and visit.”
Willard led Temple University’s police academy for 15 years before moving into the role of director of tactical and professional development for the past three years. Previous experience includes work as a corporal and training coordinator for the Chester County Sheriff’s Office, police officer positions with Millersville University, Quarryville Police Department, and West Chester University, and time as a fraud claims adjuster for Allstate Insurance.
“I believe being a director or instructor at a law enforcement academy is not about you; it is about the cadets and providing them with the tools, skills, knowledge, and experiences they need to succeed,” said Willard. “Our responsibility is to prepare them to be the best police officers they can be and to serve their communities with professionalism, integrity, and confidence.”
Willard holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice from West Chester University and earned state Act 120 municipal police certification at Delaware County Community College.
The municipal police academy will offer the state’s Act 120 basic police officer training, a comprehensive, mandatory, 919-hour program designed to prepare an individual for certification to become a police officer within the Commonwealth. The academy will be housed at the Newtown Campus.
Applications open this spring, with the inaugural class set to begin in August 2027.
For more information, visit bucks.edu/mpa, contact mpa@bucks.edu or call 215-497-8766.