Matthew Adamson

Dr. Matthew Adamson joined Olivet’s full-time faculty in 2015. He serves as the Criminal Justice Program Director and enjoys working as the coordinator in the Law Enforcement Concentration, preparing students for a future in federal, state, municipal, and county law enforcement. He’s dedicated to experiential learning and teaches courses in police and society, criminal law, criminal procedure, and fundamentals of police training.

In 2014, he completed his professional law enforcement career after serving 27½ years as a police officer with the Kankakee Police Department. He has a wealth of experience in SWAT, police administration, hostage and crisis negotiation, firearms instruction, and armoring. He has taught statewide classes on the Incident Command System (ICS) for the Illinois Fire Institute and served on the Illinois Incident Management Team.  In basic training at the Illinois State Police Basic Academy, Dr. Adamson was elected as class president of the Basic Train Class 400-18 in 1986. His career in law enforcement has included a promotion to the rank of Sergeant (1992), to Lieutenant (1998) and to Patrol Commander (2010). Additionally, he was selected by local Chiefs of Police to serve as the director of the Kankakee Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group (KAMEG), specializing in statewide drug enforcement efforts with federal, state, and local agencies. Chosen by the local Chiefs of Police, he was the first and only local officer to be assigned to this position. He has also served as the accreditation manager for the initial accreditation process at the Kankakee Police Department, becoming the first police agency in Illinois to attain state accreditation (ILEAP) and also the first police agency to hold both state accreditation (ILEAP) and national accreditation (CALEA). He enjoys being a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, Illinois Police Association, FBI National Academy Associates, and Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society.

His leisure interests include lifting weights, reading, traveling, and spending time with his family. He and his wife, Michele, live in Kankakee and are the parents of three children: Benjamin, Joseph, and Rachel.

Dr. Adamson has been an active member of Calvary Bible Church in Bourbonnais since 1990, where he has served in leadership as an elder and deacon, in men’s ministry, and as a teacher of adult and junior high school ministries. He has also participated in AWANA and Vacation Bible School, led home Bible studies, operated on several para-church boards, and participated in several overseas mission trips.