The role of the police has always been an interest to the average citizen.
The television media has capitalized upon the curiosity with shows such as “Cops,” “CSI” and “America’s Most Wanted.”
Each week, real police action is broadcast into the living rooms of millions of Americans. Numerous police agencies have also benefited from the curiosity that citizens have about the police.
The Darien Police is forming a citizen police academy to create an expansion of their community based efforts. This program is intended to open the lines of communication between the community and the Police Department.
To the average 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.
The objective of the Darien Police citizen police academy is not to train individuals to be a reserve police officer, but to produce informed citizens.
The citizens and police officers meet each other face to face in a neutral, friendly setting and each becomes a person to the other. In the past, citizens have simply seen a uniform, now they will have an understanding about the person behind the badge.
The Darien Police citizen police academy is offering a six-week program of information and instruction designed to provide residents within the community the knowledge and understanding of the police officer’s duties, responsibilities and training requirements. Officers from within the department present the classes which will include both classroom and hands on training.
Some of the topics will include; a history and tour of the police department, traffic enforcement and accident investigation, DWI and vehicle stop demonstrations, criminal justice and domestic violence, forensics and crime scene investigation, simmunitions and emergency response team.
You must be 21 years of age to apply and be a Darien resident or business owner. You must also be a U.S. citizen of good moral character and have never been convicted of a felony, class A or class B misdemeanor.
The class will be limited to 20 participants.
The class will be held at the Darien Police Department on Thursday evenings form 8:00 to 9:30 pm beginning Oct. 4.
Applications can be downloaded from the Darien Police website at darienpolice.org, or obtained at the Darien Police Department.
More info: contact Detective Mark Cappelli at Cappelli@darienct.gov or 203-662-5368.
