Lt. Scott Lau graduates top of his class at Southern Police Institute
Scott Lau of Christiansburg, Va., lieutenant for patrol operations with Virginia Tech Police, graduated first in his class at the 127th Administrative Officers Course at the Southern Police Institute held at the University of Louisville in May.
Lau was honored with the William F. Walsh Director’s Award for Academic Excellence for having the highest academic grade average in the undergraduate program.
The Southern Police Institute’s Administrative Officers Course leads to a Certificate in Police Executive Leadership Development. The program, established in 1951, is a leading program in police executive leadership education. The Administrative Officers Course is a 12-week (480 hour) in-residence, accredited college level educational program. The curriculum is designed to develop informed, effective, ethically, and technically competent law enforcement managers who are capable of assuming positions of leadership in their respective agencies.
“Lt. Lau’s participation in the Southern Police Institute’s Administrative Officers Course alone is a great honor, but completing the program at the top of his class brings even more pride and distinction to him and to our department,” said Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum. “Having successfully completed this program, he will make our department that much more strong and our community safer.”
A member of the Virginia Tech Police since 1998, Lau was promoted from the rank of sergeant to lieutenant in 2007. He had previously been a member of the Blacksburg Police Department.
The nationally accredited Virginia Tech Police Department strives to enhance the safety and quality of life for students, faculty, staff, and visitors through effective law enforcement and proactive crime prevention in partnership with the university community. The department has been serving Virginia Tech since 1945.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
