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’sĀ 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 IĀ 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.”