Cédric Shutts (’25): Local Law Enforcement

“I am grateful for my time at IWP – from my internship to my studies, for the people I met and learned with, and for the skills and knowledge I gained from studying there. I can see how it has helped my career on a daily basis.”
– Cédric Shutts (’25)

With a longtime interest in national security, law enforcement, and intelligence, Cédric Shutts (’25) has recently made the leap from doing risk analysis for private business to the hands-on work of a police officer with the Fairfax County Police Department.

Below, Cédric shares what brought him to IWP, the concrete impacts of his risk analysis, and his foray into a new career in local law enforcement.

Security Studies at Mercyhurst and IWP

Originally from northeast Ohio, Cédric was drawn to the intelligence program at Mercyhurst University – an IWP partner school – because of its dynamic focus on current events.

After completing an IWP internship, Cédric pursued his M.A. in Statecraft and National Security Affairs.

“The curriculum at IWP is focused on some elements of international relations that you don’t get at other institutions, like the holistic approach and the tools of statecraft,” said Cédric. “I was also interested in studying with faculty who had experience as practitioners. It was an easy choice to do an internship at IWP and then continue my studies.”

At IWP, he appreciated the focus on using soft power when possible. “Soft power capabilities are impressed upon you in every class at IWP,” Cédric remembered. “We have the hard power capabilities, but we don’t always have to use them when a better tool of statecraft, like diplomacy, will be more effective in a given situation. There are many tools to solve a problem, and if you use the right tool, even if it’s an unconventional one, you can get better results.”

Risk Intelligence for Private Business

While studying at IWP, Cédric began to work for TDI doing business-oriented intelligence work.

Although the business side of intelligence is different from national security-focused intelligence, Cédric was able to apply the same approach to problems that he learned at IWP in his work with TDI.

He primarily worked with one major client, doing risk intelligence before a merger, acquisition, or partnership with another company. Cédric created complete risk profiles on these potential partners, including reputational risk and regulatory risk.

These reports informed decision-making at the highest levels of his client company, and Cédric would read announcements about mergers and acquisitions with companies he had vetted weeks or months beforehand. “It was a good motivational boost to see that my work was valuable,” said Cédric.

Making the Leap to Law Enforcement

After five years, and with the mentorship of colleagues at TDI, Cédric decided to leave the business world to pursue his passion for law enforcement.

He chose to join the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) because of its wide-ranging capabilities and impact in a key region of our country. For instance, FCPD has an intelligence division, a counterterrorism unit, a real-time crime center involving monitoring cameras and real-time coordination with patrol officers, and specialized units focused on narcotics and gang activity.

Cédric recently completed the Police Academy. “We had a really good class,” he said. “It was diverse in terms of age, education, personality, and experience. It was a good environment to learn.”

Cédric experienced a military-style environment for the first time during physical training, and he was pleased to be able to succeed even without prior combat experience.

“There are so many more skills that you can apply to police work other than brute force,” he said.

Work as a Patrol Officer

Cédric is currently doing field training with an instructor for his new role as a Patrol Officer.

“It’s different from sitting in an office and writing reports – and that’s what is so interesting,” he said. “You’re in a dynamic environment doing things that can make an immediate difference in people’s lives. It’s fulfilling. And during six months in the Academy and my shifts so far, I have been learning things I never knew before or never have done before.”

His IWP education is serving him well so far in his new role. “You can see how the patrol aspects – getting out and talking to people and building rapport with different types of people – relate to the intelligence aspects – getting the information, analyzing it, disseminating it, and ultimately making better cases that will help in court,” he said.

In a few years, Cédric should be eligible for promotion and an application to a specialty within FCPD. “The tools I learned to address intelligence problems at IWP will be directly transferable to things I would do in a specialty,” said Cédric.

Reflections on the IWP Experience

When asked what he would share with a new IWP student, Cédric said, “You can be confident that you’re getting taught good material and skills that make you stand out as a professional.”

He also reflected that these skills can be applied in unexpected avenues. “From college at Mercyhurst until today, I have had different visions of what I wanted to do with my career,” Cédric reflected. “My career trajectory has changed, but I have the same end goal. The skills and experience from my IWP education can be applied in ways I didn’t think of before that will enable me to do what I really want in my career.”