SVCC police academy named in honor of Harry Ulferts

DIXON – The police academy at Sauk Valley Community College has been named in memory of the late Harry Ulferts.

Ulferts, a Dixon resident, spent his professional career in many different law enforcement capacities, including as a local police officer, a private investigator and an international police trainer, and he worked both in the U.S. and Siberia with Soviet police personnel.

Locally, he advanced through the Dixon Police Department ranks as a patrol officer, detective, patrol sergeant, detective sergeant, field services lieutenant, detective lieutenant, firearms trainer, private investigator and criminal justice instructor. He was a founder of the Dixon police dive team, a latent print examiner and a fingerprint expert certified through the International Association for Identification.

Additionally, he was an alumni of SVCC and recipient of the 1993 Outstanding Alumnus Award. He later was employed as an adjunct faculty member, where he aided in the evolution of the college’s criminal justice program. He also taught dual-credit courses through the Whiteside Area Career Center and SVCC.

He was an active volunteer in the community, dedicating his time to local civic organizations. His dedication to Dixon and to his students at both the Whiteside Area Career Center and SVCC was an inspiration. His legacy will live on through the Ulferts Police Academy at SVCC, according to a news release issued by Sauk Valley Community College.

Ulferts loved his students and encouraged all of them in their education journey. The Sauk Valley College Foundation will begin fundraising for the Ulferts Impact Scholar Fund to provide area high school students interested in majoring in criminal justice the opportunity to earn 100% of their tuition and fees to attend SVCC, according to the release.

The Ulferts Impact Scholar Fund will be a dedicated fund within the SVCC Impact Program. Along with the education component, the SVCC Impact Program embodies Ulferts’ legacy of service to the community through the student volunteer requirement, which benefits nonprofits and community organizations throughout the Sauk Valley.

For more information on the police academy naming, email the Sauk Valley College Foundation at foundation@svcc.edu.