Lecturer Kohl started his career in the United States Marine Corps where he spent more than a year in Vietnam before joining the Detroit Police Department. He spent the next 20 years in Detroit working his way up the ranks in multiple positions, including the SRT/SWAT team and later as a legal advisor. After Detroit, Kohl held positions as the head of police and public safety departments in Michigan and Iowa. He also taught criminal justice courses at Michigan State University (MSU). As a police chief, he created a cadet program, recruiting cadets from MSU. Later at Rutgers, where he was hired to oversee all the public safety services including the police, he started the Community Service Officer (CSO) program, which over the years employed and trained thousands of students studying criminal justice courses at Rutgers. That unit created the motto of “Students Serving Students” and has become a community policing model that has been adopted by universities nationwide.
In addition to his policing experience, Kohl is also a firefighter and a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the National Fire Academy. He holds a master’s degree and a Juris Doctorate, and he became a member of the Bar in 1990. He has written articles on cross-training emergency responders, the duty to protect, and emergency management. Kohl is most proud of the number of his students that have excelled in their careers in private and public policing, and his students that changed their career aspirations after taking his Criminal Procedure class and went on to success in law school. Lecturer Kohl was recognized as the Lecturer of the year in 2024.