Northeastern State University Hosts Annual Law Enforcement Career Fair

College students at Northeastern State University are learning about different careers in law enforcement.

More than 40 agencies including Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Cherokee Nation Emergency Management, and Tulsa Police were in Tahlequah for the event.

Timothy Skerbitz is a freshman at NSU and stopped by to check out the police gear.

"To me, the police is kind of a mystery, so I enjoyed getting to uncover what the police do and their gear,” said Skerbitz. “To me their gear is really sick, so getting to get in their trucks and mess with their cameras and play with it, so it was really cool just getting to see all their gear and stuff."

The goal was to take learning outside and give students a chance to talk to officers one-on-one and ask questions.

"We do a lot of book learning right here at the college, and it's really fun to bring the real world to the college campus and give the students a chance to talk to the people who are in the field and see the equipment that they're going to be working with," said Dr. Amy Proctor, an Associate Professor at Northeastern State University.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Joe Couch works on the water and loved showing the airboat to the students. He likes telling people about the type of work he does.

"People are amazed that we do have some equipment that we have,” said Couch. “They're impressed with the airboat. I just showed a young man the airboat and let him get up on it and explain some of the equipment and the functions of it. And he seemed to enjoy it."

Couch hopes students can see law enforcement is much more than just patrolling the streets.

"It shows them a different avenue of what law enforcement has,” said Couch. “A breakdown in Highway Patrol, we're not just on the highway, there's aircraft, bomb squad, the lake division, all different kind of avenues for employment in the Highway Patrol."

Skerbitz said he's glad he got to meet some officers and learn more about what the police do each day.

"You'd be surprised how open the police are to letting you come to these things and check everything out, so really try and get involved and come and check out what they do," said Skerbitz.

Proctor said in the future they hope to expand this event and make it into a conference.