SOUTHWICK – The Citizens Police Academy graduation will be taking place on Tuesday June 5, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the Southwick Town Hall. Sixteen individuals who either live or work in Southwick will be graduating from the police departments 23rd class.
Twenty seven people graduated from the Citizens Police Academy in December of 2016. (WNG File Photo)
According to Sgt. Kirk Sanders, who has been running the program for more than 12 years, the graduates range from age 20 to 90-years-old. Several participants of the program will stand up and voice their thoughts on the experience. Each of the graduates will then receive certificates for their completion of the program.
The Southwick Citizens Police Academy began in 2001 and ran regularly until 2008. Once David Ricardi became Chief in 2013 he resurrected the program and kept Sanders as the lead organizer.
The experience is an eight-week program that gives community members a first-hand, behind the scenes look at what it’s like to be a police officer on a daily basis.
The classes that people go through include patrol procedures, drug identification, criminal law and crime scene investigations. Towards the end of the program, citizens will experience what many past individuals and police officers believe is one of the most beneficial aspects to the academy; the “You’re the cop” scenario. In this exercise, people will act as a police officer who is conducting a traffic stop and encounter an individual in their car.
In order to join the academy, you have to be at least 18 years old. If you’re 17 and a senior in high school, you have to be accompanied by a parent or adult.
For more information contact the Southwick police at 413-569-5348.
