Jeffrey Scholz

Jeffrey G. Scholz is a retired Senior Investigator from the New York State Police with over 28 years of experience in law enforcement.

Upon retirement in 2022, Jeff was the Senior Investigator for BCI Training at the State Police Academy in Albany, NY, responsible for the development, facilitation, and delivery of in-service and basic training programs to over 1,100 NYSP Investigators in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), as well as programs for over 3,000 uniformed Troopers, recruits, civilians, and outside law enforcement agencies across New York State and beyond.

Certified as a New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Master Instructor for Police Topics, Jeff received the coveted 2019 New York State Police George M. Searle Award, recognizing and acknowledging excellence in police training.

Throughout his career, Jeff also worked assignments in uniform patrol, as a Field Training Officer, in undercover narcotics work, as a sergeant, and as an investigator in assignments to station units, the Troop G computer crimes unit, and finally, before taking an assignment at the Academy, the Troop G major crimes unit, where he worked serious cases including homicides and missing persons, following up on leads, conducting investigative interviews, obtaining admissions and confessions and testifying before grand juries and county courts. Jeff was also responder to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

While at the Academy, and in response to the growing demand for more training in dealing with crisis situations involving those with mental illnesses, substance abuse issues, or other distress, Jeff, who was the Division Coordinator for the NYSP Crisis Negotiation Program and a Crisis Negotiator since 2006, developed a Crisis Intervention program in 2018 using the basic tenets of hostage and crisis negotiation that was delivered statewide to every New York State Trooper and shared with dozens of local and county police agencies across the state.

The demand for this kind of training was so high that in 2020, with the onset of COVID, a video production for De-Escalation was created and made a part of the NYSP Winter In-Service training program that all State Police Members completed by early 2021. The video was then broadcast to over 200 members of other police agencies across the state via a webinar presented in conjunction with the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. The video was made available for download to these agencies and incorporated into the training of dozens of other agencies.

Jeff has developed and taught many programs, including crisis negotiation, crisis intervention, de-escalation, interview and interrogation, search warrants, hate crime investigation, implicit bias, and procedural justice, to name a few.

A long-time believer in the art of communication and the benefits of a good, ethical interview, Jeff has instructed new recruits, seasoned investigators, non-sworn members of governmental agencies, and civilians in good communication skills that get results, whether the situation is a criminal investigation or dealing with an individual in crisis. These results help keep people safer.

Jeff currently instructs police officers and civilians nationwide on officer safety, officer wellness, de-escalation, and crisis intervention. He is also a New York State Office of Mental Health training consultant. Jeff is proud to continue the traditions of honesty, integrity, courage, and the motto of the New York State Police Academy: “Excellence Through Knowledge.”