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Retired police detective now teaching over 70 students criminal justice skills

After retiring in November of 2021, Andre Cowell took his decades of knowledge to the Whitmer Career and Technology Center.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Students at Whitmer Career and Technology Center are learning criminal justice skills from someone who did it for more than 20 years.

"I'm learning along with them as far as the teaching portion," instructor Andre Cowell said. "The material is a breeze, but just how to present it to them and how to get it out there to them, to make sure everybody is getting what they need is the important thing."

After retiring in November of 2021, Cowell took his decades of knowledge to the classroom. He is teaching about 70 students how to dust for fingerprints, process evidence and interrogate suspects.

Students interested in a career in criminal justice are intrigued by all he's brought to the table. 

"We've seen a lot more stuff of what he's done in the field when he was working," senior Raegan Mitchell said. "It's just cool to see all that and the actual experience of it."

Tori Chmielewski, a junior at Washington Local Schools, hopes to be a police officer one day.

She said her favorite part of the class is "probably all the videos he's shown us of break-ins, which are really cool to look at and see."

Cowell said it's not just about teaching the students what the books say. It's about showing them what they can expect in the field.

Those real-life experiences he's had and can share are what he wants to teach, to help guide students if they choose to pursue the career path.

He said he wants to get them "out of the building and into the (police) academy."

So, he called a friend who works with the academy "to try to schedule a visit for our classes to come out and watch some scenarios done. We'll go to the courts, we'll go to the police station. I wanted to try to get them to view an autopsy to see how that is and say, 'hey, this is what you're going to see in the streets.'"

Cowell wants the students to look back at what he taught them and feel prepared.

"My goal is when you walk out of that door, if you ever become a police officer, you look back and say, 'this is what he was talking about.'"

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