Ellensburg Police Department continues long tradition of hiring CWU alumni

In just the past year, the Ellensburg Police Department has hired three more Central Washington University alumni as officers, bringing the total number of alumni within their ranks to 19 out of 28.

This pattern is well-recognized at both CWU and the EPD, Captain Cameron Clasen (’00) explained.

“When I came here, I would have never, ever expected that I was going to live here for the rest of my life,” he said. “For a lot of CWU graduates, you just fall in love with the town, and that’s a great thing. When you see a lot of students coming here and choosing to stay, that speaks pretty highly of the community and what it’s all about.”

Following his graduation, Clasen started his career with the CWU Police Department, then transferred to the EPD in 2006 where he was recently joined by Jordan Fray (’20) and Eliana Silva (’25). Silva said it was an easy decision for her to move back to Ellensburg after graduating from the Law and Justice program last spring.

“When EPD told me they’d like to hire me, I didn’t wait to hear from anyone else,” she said. “I moved right back here in a heartbeat.”

While Silva didn’t know exactly what she wanted to study after high school, she knew it had to be at CWU. After only a short time, she knew it had to be Law and Justice.

“CWU was the only college I applied for, since Ellensburg is just a bit bigger than Waterville, where I’m from,” she said. “I started in Environmental Science, but after I took a Law and Justice class, I realized I would rather be here, working with the community and talking to people.”

Unlike Silva, Fray knew she wanted to go into policing from a very young age. She also had a long history with Ellensburg even though she grew up in Pierce County, thanks to her love of the great outdoors.

“I knew I enjoyed the atmosphere and the town here, with a slower pace than where I’m from on the west side,” Fray said of her hometown of Buckley. “My dad was a firefighter, so I grew up around first responders, and I’d always had an interest in policing, so I picked my path and stuck to it.”

Five years after her graduation from the Law and Justice program, Fray found her way back to policing, and she soon realized the education she received at CWU had provided her with a solid foundation to build a career in law enforcement.

“I wish I’d had the courage to apply for the academy sooner, but even after having to refresh my knowledge a bit, I still remember a lot of what we learned in all my classes,” she said. “I took a sociology class focused on children that has been really helpful for me in communicating with the younger members of our community, too.”

Both Fray and Silva were taken aback by the sheer amount of support and resources they found at their disposal during their time at CWU.

“My classes were never any bigger than 20 students,” Silva said. “That’s one of the reasons CWU’s Law and Justice department is one of the better ones, because you have great access to your professors and to experiences in the field early on.”

“I was surprised by all the outside resources our professors made available to us,” Fray added. “The people they brought in to speak with their classes all had their own personal connections to the world of policing, which they were able to share with us.”

One of their fellow officers, Corporal Josh Ingraham (’12), didn’t enroll at CWU until after he started with the EPD in 2008, but he continues to give back to the university as an instructor in Law and Justice. His unique perspective as an officer, alumnus, and instructor has provided him with a firsthand perspective about what it’s like to transition from CWU graduate to EPD officer.

“CWU is good at establishing what the theories are, and then recruits put that theory into practice once they’re in the field,” Ingraham said. “Having that baseline of education helps you come in the door stronger. Knowing the environment, knowing the people, and having that connection to it is pretty great, too.”

Sierra Smith (’25), a new officer currently being trained by Ingraham, has found the EPD culture to be welcoming and supportive despite being a fresh face on the force.

“My experience with EPD has been great,” she said. “Everybody really wants you to succeed and is here to support you every step of the way, and I think the same goes for the Ellensburg community.”