Dr. Bruce Beckler served the Criminal Justice Training Center for over ten years as the basic academy coordinator and as the training center's second academy director.  Dr. Beckler was best known for his creativity, innovations in developing scenario based training and testing, and most for establishing some of the highest graduation standards for academy cadets in California.  He had a sincere belief that if you raise the bar, cadets will "rise to the occasion" to meet a higher standard.  Dr. Beckler has a vision of excellence for the police academy program and many of his ideas continue to be evident in the program today.

The Dr. Bruce Beckler Scholarship was established in 2004 after he fell to cancer. It is funded through donations from Mr. Glen Bell and Mr. Ron Appel, two members of the Napa Valley College faculty.

This scholarship is awarded at the academy graduation to the Class Valedictorian who achieves the overall highest score in the police academy class.