The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has designated American Military University (AMU) as a "preferred school" for LAPD personnel who want to further their education and advance their careers, AMU announced.

AMU is part of the American Public University System (APUS) as an accredited, online, university system serving more than 70,000 working adults worldwide. APUS offers 76 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in an affordable and flexible format. Since its founding, AMU has graduated thousands of law enforcement personnel and police officers nationwide, who have enrolled in AMU bachelors and masters degree programs, including Criminal Justice, Management, Public Administration, and Homeland Security.

The LAPD designation follows a similar agreement between AMU and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) last year, which made AMU a member of LASD University—a consortium of colleges and universities whose mission is to provide LASD employees with a variety of accessible learning programs.

"Ongoing professional development and education is important in any field, but it is essential in law enforcement," said Jeff Kuhn, director of Public Safety Outreach at APUS. "We look forward to working with the LAPD to ensure its personnel have access to high-quality and relevant degree programs, and help the Department further develop its leadership corps."

The LAPD agreement gives AMU a regular presence at the LAPD Training Academy and allows AMU to be in direct contact with administrators, managers and officers seeking to learn about or enroll in one of the university's many degree programs.

The agreement also calls for AMU to evaluate the programs of the LAPD Training Academy to determine if some of its programs would qualify for transfer credit. This would allow Los Angeles cadets and police officers to apply some of their professional development and on-the-job training toward AMU degree programs.

"AMU is proud to be partnering with the two largest law enforcement agencies in Southern California to provide career-advancing, higher education opportunities to those who serve and protect us here every day," Bettina Aschenbrenner AMU's law enforcement education coordinator.

Aschenbrenner is a retired LASD sergeant and detective who, like several of her colleagues, moved from active duty to working to promote educational opportunities to LAPD personnel.