I recently completed the Suffield Police Department Citizen’s Police Academy program. I went into this simply hoping to learn what day to day policing was all about. This seven-week program exceeded my expectations.
The program, designed by Sergeant Geoff Miner, gave all the attendees a little bit of everything. The two-hour weekly classes included discussions covering accident reconstruction, emergency medical response/equipment, school resource officer duties, use of force, special investigations and K-9 programs/duties, just to name a few.
Each topic was presented with different officers at SPD (as well as the K-9 officer from East Windsor). This gave each of us an opportunity to interreact with 10 officers.
We were given hands-on interaction with almost all the equipment our officers may use. The classes were lively, with all the participants encouraged to ask as many questions as we wished. Everyone participated.
As part of the program, we were encouraged to sign up for an officer ride-a-long. I chose a 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. shift thinking I’d be spending the entire time with one officer. I was wrong. I split my time with three officers.
I was nervous about running out of questions or not having enough to talk about. Wrong again! The time flew by.
Each officer seemed to actually enjoy the company (shocker, right?), and the evening fortunately (or unfortunately) was busy as we patrolled town and responded to several calls.
After seven weeks I walked away knowing that all of our SPD officers have a genuine love for what they do. “To Protect and Serve” is truly a calling, each one having their own story about how they came to choose the profession. Each officer also has individual special interests related to their job and many seek out special training to become what we used to call ‘subject matter experts’ in my career in the insurance industry.
Some of the specialties include: ATV use in policing, drone usage, emergency response teams, bicycles in policing, accident reconstruction and K-9 policing. Each one requires individual skills to master.
I would encourage anyone with the time to participate next spring. This program is exactly what is necessary for community involvement.