Chris Carter, who lives in Trenton but works as a security manager for a local business, is set to graduate from the academy next week. She said her husband quit the police force in the early 1990s and told her never to consider that line of work. She wanted to find out why.
“Unfortunately, the police have had a lot of negative background lately,” she said. “It’s easy to kind of jump to conclusions, but once you see the other side of it, then you understand more why they do what they do.”
She said she doesn’t have a favorite part of the course and has enjoyed everything. She found traffic enforcement fascinating. She said the little things no one probably thinks twice about are important in the police world.
“You’re struck in traffic and it’s like ‘What in the world could possibly be taking so long?’ Get the cars out of the way and move on,” she said. “There is a lot more into that than the person sitting in their car waiting thinks. There is a lot that they are doing, there’s a lot to those investigations.”
Police Chief Joel Herzog said they have hosted 14 academies now since they started it in 2010. They hold one in the spring and a new class starts Sept. 7 when 20 to 25 people can get up close and personal with the inner workings of a cop shop.
He said one of the favorite exercises is the gun simulator, which reacts to the actions the “police” take. For example, if the suspect complies with an order to stop, the scenario is over. If they pull out a gun, then a much different outcome ensues.
Herzog said showing off the department’s bells and whistles, so to speak, isn’t the main focus of the academy.
“It helps us to bridge the gap of the understanding and misunderstanding of policing and what our capabilities are and what we’re all about,” he said. “So we like to get those people involved not just in the academy during those 10 weeks, but to basically be our ambassadors beyond that when they talk to their neighbors about the police department and any misnomers that are out there.”
Carter had nothing but high praise for West Chester.
“I think the West Chester Police Department works as a well-oiled machine,” she said. “To watch their whole process is just really amazing.
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