{"id":28133,"date":"2018-07-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-criminal-justice-grad-named-arlington-medal-of-merit-winner\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T16:56:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T21:56:42","slug":"tarleton-criminal-justice-grad-named-arlington-medal-of-merit-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-criminal-justice-grad-named-arlington-medal-of-merit-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton criminal justice grad named Arlington Medal of Merit winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tarleton<\/a><\/p>\n

Tarleton Alum Receives Medal of Merit<\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nFriday, July 20, 2018<\/p>\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University criminal justice graduate Kevin Kolbye has received Arlington Police Department\u2019s Medal of Merit.<\/p>\n

Kolbye, a 2015 graduate of the master\u2019s program<\/a> based at Tarleton-Fort Worth<\/a>, is assistant chief of the Arlington department.<\/p>\n

The honor is a result of The Walmart Restorative Justice Program initiated by Kolbye. The program, in place for three years, has helped foster improved working relationships between police and retailers, and makes a more efficient use of officers\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

A 50-percent reduction in calls to the Arlington Police Department<\/a> has made the program a national model. In its first year, the program was credited with cutting shoplifting arrests by 65 percent at Arlington\u2019s three Walmart locations and saving the police department more than 12,000 hours so that officers could refocus their efforts on preventing violent crimes and community policing.<\/p>\n

Another key aspect to the program\u2019s success is the alternative to arrest for first-time offenders who successfully complete an educational program explaining how shoplifting hurts the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a lot of crimes, you can\u2019t just arrest your way out of shoplifting or theft,\u201d Kolbye said in a broadcast interview. \u201cHopefully what [this program] does \u2014 it gives the individual who gets a second chance to think twice about committing another shoplifting or theft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven educational experience, marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today\u2019s scholars into tomorrow\u2019s leaders. Offering degree programs in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian and online to more than 13,000 students, Tarleton engages with communities through real-world learning experiences to address societal needs while maintaining its core values of integrity, leadership, tradition, civility, excellence and service.<\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

Contact: Phil Riddle, News & Information Specialist
\n817-484-4415
\npriddle@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tarleton State University criminal justice graduate Kevin Kolbye has received Arlington Police Department’s Medal of Merit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,425],"tags":[432,438,457],"class_list":["post-28133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-graduate-studies","tag-tarleton-state-fort-worth"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-1118-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Alumni<\/a>","College of Graduate Studies<\/a>","Tarleton State Fort Worth<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Alumni<\/span>","College of Graduate Studies<\/span>","Tarleton State Fort Worth<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 years ago","modified":"Updated 8 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 20, 2018","modified":"Updated on September 4, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 20, 2018 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on September 4, 2025 4:56 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Two police officers in uniform shake hands, holding a certificate.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53626,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28133\/revisions\/53626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}