ASHLAND —
The Ashland Police Department is reviving its long-dormant Citizens Police Academy.
The seven-week course will give citizens an opportunity to experience and learn first-hand the variety of services the department provides while fostering a greater understanding among the public of law enforcement.
“It is a very good program that we have been wanting to bring back in as a community partner project,” said Maj. Todd Kelley. “We feel like now is the right time.”
The course will be on Tuesday nights, beginning Oct. 9, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the community room of the new police station. The program is free, but citizens must be 18 or older and be accepted to the program to participate. Applications are available at the police station.
Applicants must go through a background check. Kelley explained, “They are going to be touring our 911 facilities, and engaged in activities and functions of the police department in restricted areas. It’s pretty basic but if someone has been convicted of a felony or is not supposed to possess a firearm, they will not meet the criteria.”
The class will be limited to 20 students, and those who qualify but are unable to get a seat will be eligible for the next academy. Kelley said if the academy is met with enough interest, a spring and fall academy could be established. Otherwise, Kelley said, the plan is to hold the academy each year.
During the seven-week course, participants will “work a case” and finish with a mock criminal trial. Kelley didn’t want to give away any of the details, saying only, that it will be based on a real-life case police have worked. It will give citizens, he said, “a real ideal what a police officer goes through. Not all the time are the answers right there.”
Kelley added, “It’s going to be very interactive and not only will it be informative but it will be exciting. There will be things you do hands on, or things you actually get to do in a controlled environment that a policeman does. To a citizen it will be fun, something they have never seen before.”
Kelley said the goal of the program is to foster a better relationship between the department and the community it serves. “It is just to create a partnership,” he said. “It will help in making the community safer and improving quality of life issues.
“We’re changing as a community everyday,” said Kelley, noting technology is changing the type of crimes that are occurring. “It has gone from simple stealing a bicycle to now it is high tech. The more and more that we have that becomes high tech, the more we rely on the community to tell us something is wrong.”
Applications can be picked up at the Ashland Police Department, 201 17th Street. For more information contact Major Todd Kelly at (606) 327-2020.
CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.
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