Pleased and impressed with the enthusiastic response to the
inaugural Citizens Police Academy, the Morgan Hill Police
department will conduct its second class this fall.
Pleased and impressed with the enthusiastic response to the inaugural Citizens Police Academy, the Morgan Hill Police department will conduct its second class this fall.
Starting Sept. 13, the CPA is a 12-week course designed for Morgan Hill residents to learn more about law enforcement and operations within the local department, explained MHPD detective Ken Howard.
Participants will learn about every angle of police work, including how detectives investigate crimes such as domestic violence and child abuse, some of the tactics and strategy used by the SWAT team, when and how to use force in certain incidents, hostage negotiations and how the district attorney’s office prosecutes a crime.
Class members will also learn about patrol operations, communications, crime prevention, crime analysis, firearms training, critical incidents, narcotics, gangs, traffic enforcement, emergency services, and more, Howard said.
In the CPA’s inaugural session, which took place this spring, class members participated in a number of hands-on activities and scenarios led by local officers, to give the regular citizens an idea of what it’s like to be a police officer.
City Manager Ed Tewes participated in one of the CPA sessions in the spring – a computerized, room-sized shooting simulator enclosed within a mobile trailer that officers use for training purposes. The experience, which depicted potential real-life scenarios on a giant screen, showed Tewes that police are often confronted with difficult, stressful situations.*”The simulator demonstrated the type of training that even experienced officers can employ to improve their skills and decision making,” Tewes said.
Officers were pleased that local participation in the CPA so far has strengthened the city’s efforts to engage in community-oriented policing by working “in partnership” with residents from all walks of life, Howard added.
The course meets one night a week, with a couple of the sessions taking place on Saturday mornings. It is open to Morgan Hill residents 18 and older, though applicants are screened and must be clean of any felony, as well as certain misdemeanor convictions. Participants will also be required to sign confidentiality and waiver agreements, and submit to background checks.
Graduates of the CPA will receive a diploma at the end of the course, and will be eligible to participate in the city’s Volunteers in Policing program which allows volunteers to assist in certain non-emergency police duties such as records keeping, background checks and traffic control.
There is no cost to participate in the CPA.
For more information and to submit an application via email, visit the CPA’s website at http://www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/index.aspx?nid=1000. Interested residents may also pick up paper applications at the Morgan Hill Police station, at 16200 Vineyard Blvd., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
