Calling all cadets!

Randall County is looking for some good men and women who want to get a taste — and that’s all it’ll be — of police work.

Take it from me: It’s an investment in time well worth making.

The sheriff’s department is looking for participants in its next Citizen’s  Academy. Read about it here.

I went through an Amarillo Police Department Citizen’s Academy some years ago. I did so on something of a challenge from a senior officer at the PD, who had read a column I wrote for the Amarillo Globe-News that was mildly critical of something I  witnessed involving an APD officer.

My friend called me and said, in effect, “OK, buster, if you think you know so much about police work, apply for a spot in the citizen’s academy and we’ll show you how it really works.”

I accepted his challenge.

The academy lasted about 11 weeks, if memory serves. It was an eye-opener, to say the very least.

My classmates and I learned about dispatching calls, aerial surveillance, drug-sniffing dogs, the use of a Taser, simulations of the kinds of calls officers have to answer, firing pistols and other firearms. We all had a chance to be stung with a Taser; I chose not to do that.

We all got to ride along with officers and we received essentially a lifetime pass if we want to ride along in the future. All we have to do is request and the PD will make it happen.

I told my friend who challenged me to attend the academy that he would find no greater supporter of those in law enforcement than yours truly.

My support only grew as I attended the police academy.

Yes, it’s good PR for law enforcement agencies to ask constituents to take part in these sessions. I get that part of it.

It’s also good education for constituents to get a small — but important — taste of what these men and women do every day they go to work.

It’s sometimes dangerous. It’s damn sure never “routine.”