26 March 2009

Citizens Police Academies Offer Realistic View of Police Work

Civilians learn the challenges, limits of police activities and powers

Firearms simulation training at the South Bend Citizens Police Academy

By Jane Morse
Staff Writer

Washington — The proliferation of police shows on television demonstrates the curiosity average citizens have about police work. But the best way for civilians to learn about the challenges and limits of policing is to sign up for a citizens police academy.

A citizens police academy is not a miniature police academy, Lieutenant Richard Powers told America.gov. “It is strictly aimed at civilians,” he said. “This is all about education and about exchange of ideas with civilians.”

Powers, who has 20 years’ experience on the South Bend Police Department in Indiana, is the president of the National Citizens Police Academy Association (NCPAA), which has more than 340 members across the United States. NCPAA serves as a resource center for sharing ideas and providing materials to enable police departments to set up their own citizens police academies.

“Generally, the relationship between the police and the citizen is one of ‘love/hate,’” the NCPAAA acknowledges on its Web site. “To the citizen, it may frequently appear that the police are not doing their job or are exceeding their boundaries. By allowing citizens a firsthand look at what rules, regulations and policies the police follow, some of the misunderstanding may be alleviated.”

ACADEMIES REQUIRE REAL COMMITMENT

Powers estimates that about one-third of the thousands of local, county and state police departments across the United States conduct citizens police academies. These academies represent a real commitment of time and effort — by the police department and by citizen students.

Most academies are free; a few require a small fee. About 70 percent of the academies, Powers said, are funded from the police department’s own budget or from those of local government entities.

The South Bend Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy requires participants to pass criminal background checks and to attend a two-and-half-hour evening class once a week for 13 weeks.

Classes address how police departments prioritize emergency calls, arrest procedures, police ethics, how citizen complaints are investigated, police discipline, policies on the use of force, and the definition of a criminal act.

Equally important, the classes provide a forum for calm discussion of issues that bother citizens, Powers said.

A police officer shows citizens how to use window pins for safety.

“There is no topic that we’re afraid to talk about,” Powers said. “And people will test us on that.” Many academy attendees, he said, are surprised at police willingness to discuss sensitive issues like racial profiling and the treatment of illegal immigrants.

Those who attend citizens police academies include, in addition to ordinary citizens, elected officials, members of the news media, judges, heads of city agencies and clergy, Powers said.

Often, he said, attendees are motivated by an incident in their own lives, such as a police officer pulling over their child for a traffic violation or the police department impounding their car.

“There are people who come to the citizens police academies who attend strictly to find out how bad we do as a police department, because they’ve got a set agenda,” Powers said. “It’s very surprising to find out that about 80 percent of them will leave with a positive attitude about us after the 13 weeks.”

“One of the biggest things we have to strive for as an academy is that we have to show [citizens] what we can do as a police department. But I really think, more importantly, we show them what we can’t do,” Powers said. Often citizens are not aware of the limits placed on police by the law.

POLICE DEPARTMENTS BENEFIT

Powers acknowledged that when the South Bend Police Department set up its first citizens police academy 10 years ago, it was difficult to persuade officers to become instructors or presenters.

“Officers said, ‘Why do people want to do this? All they want to know about is police gossip and hear war stories, and we really don’t want to do that,’” Powers recalled.

But after about the second or third year of conducting the academies, officers learned citizens really are interested in the challenges police face and the training they undergo. Today, Powers has a waiting list of 41 officers who would like to be instructors for citizens police academies.

“Police departments have to make a commitment that they want to open their lives and doors to their community,” Powers said. Once that is done, “it will open up communication channels, but more importantly it educates the community and the community educates the police.”

“You’ve got to build trust,” he said.

More information is available on the Web site of the National Citizens Police Academy Association.