Participants will learn firsthand about police operations to foster a better understanding between police and the public.
Police Chief Joel Herzog told the Journal-News previously they have hosted 14 academies now since they started it in 2010. Usually 20 to 25 people can get up close and personal with the inner workings of a cop shop.
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.”
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Applicants must be at least 21 years old.
Curriculum for the Citizen Police Academy will include: patrol operations, criminal investigations, special operations, traffic investigations and much more. Participants will see the township jail and forensics lab, as well as a SWAT training exercise.
Applications for the Citizen Police Academy are available online at: www.westchesteroh.org,
at the West Chester Administration Building, 9113 Cincinnati-Dayton Road; and at the Police Department, 9577 Beckett Road, Suite 500. For additional information, call 513-759-7260.
Citizen Police Academy is held twice per year. Dates for the fall session will be announced later this year.
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