What I took away from the citizens police academy

I guess now is as good a time as any to admit this: I didn’t sign up for Downey Police Department’s Citizens Academy “to have a deeper understanding of the police department.”

At least, not entirely.

You could say my intentions were more strategic. I wanted to have more connections with those in the department, for those times where a story required me to dig for information. I wanted to know why it is like pulling teeth sometimes to get that information from the police, or at the very least a call back.I wanted a better chance to be let off with a warning if I ever got pulled over.

The Citizen’s Academy – which has run in Downey for over 20 years - is a yearly program, which runs alternatively to the Youth Academy that was introduced last year.

“The main focus of the citizens academy is to bring awareness to the citizens - not only of Downey, anyone who is interested – of the functions of the police department,” said Stephanie Arroyo, who helps coordinate both the Citizen’s and Youth Academies.

Almost every department is covered during the course; everything from patrol, to information technology, from narcotics to gangs, to traffic to K-9’s.

We even got a shot at the simulator, running several different “shoot / don’t shoot” scenarios.

“I think it is really important, especially for the city, the community, to know that there is actually a procedure and a function to the police department of how our officers operate,” said Arroyo. “You hear in the class, most people say ‘We call 9-1-1 but dispatchers are rude, or they will ask you the same question five times.’ But I think in the class you are able to understand a little bit of why they do that, and it’s not until they finish the class that they’re like, ‘Wow, we have a bigger understanding of law enforcement; not just the officers, but the entire department as a whole and how everyone has an important role in the department.’”

Classes are relatively intimate; around 15 participants.

Our class was a hodgepodge of different ages, walks of life, and intentions: a high school senior who thought the course seemed interesting, a business owner who had taken the course before, a couple of college students with interest in law enforcement, longtime residents, a handful of active community leaders and volunteers, a business owner.

It is definitely a time commitment, as participants are expected to set aside three hours, from 6 pm to 9 pm every Wednesday for ten weeks. It is not a hard commitment (several in my class have missed at least one night, myself included), but it is still recommended that those in the program check to see if they might have any scheduling conflicts prior to start.

Each class member is required to also go through a security screening, done at the police department.

So, what were my takeaways?

There is much more involved to “catching a bad guy” than just dialing 9-1-1 and having an officer show up on scene. Crime response / prevention is a multi-faceted operation in which all departments and staff work congruently with one another.

Sometimes, that takes time.

When you are dialing 9-1-1, chances are you are experiencing one of the worst days of your life; it is natural to want instant response / gratification.

But law enforcement hardly ever works that way. There is a procedure that is followed, and often many different departments need to work their separate roles before any given case comes to a resolution or answer.

Did I like everything that I was taught or that was said? No.

As a local reporter and a Downey resident, I admittedly struggle to toe the line between critical eye and outright police supporter.

That does not mean that it doesn’t still bug me that police radios have gone encrypted, that someone in a mental health crisis gets handcuffed and put in the back of a police car; my ears still perked up at the mention of some of the equipment and weaponry that the police may be eying in the future.

What I will say, however, is that each presenter was willing to dialogue when we had questions or concerns. At the bare minimum, they had some sort of answer or reasoning behind everything that they were explaining.

Again, the reasoning did not always satisfy personal opinion. Still, I appreciated that each officer and staff member who presented during the class seemed to sympathize, and sometimes even empathize, with the concerns brought forward.

Lastly, and at the very least, Citizens Academy is a nice way to meet some of Downey PD’s officers on a more personal level, away from city functions, or god forbid, a crime or traffic ticket.

Citizens Academy’s growth and success hinders primarily on word of mouth. That said, I cannot recommend enough that those who have an interest in law enforcement or questions about their own Downey Police Department consider taking the course when it comes back around, probably sometime early next year.