By Doris Stegall Santa Monica
My husband and I recently completed the Santa Monica Police Department’s Citizen Police Academy and we are enjoying reading your account of the same program we just experienced. We were privileged to meet the chief of police on the first night and to learn of his background growing up in a small town and the same type of trust he hopes to engender between the citizens of Santa Monica and its police officers. After completing our 13 weeks, we came away with a profound appreciation of our police department and we truly saw how hard working, enthusiastic, and caring every individual officer was that we met personally. They are all truly dedicated and a reflection of the entire department, and we know our safety is in capable hands.
The equipment the officers wear must weigh a ton. I don’t see how they can even walk, let alone be so agile in carrying out their duties. Each week we learned many new things about how the police department protects and keeps the city safe for us. Nothing can equal the Ride Along Program which enabled us to see a police officer in action. There is just one citizen appointed to one officer for a full day’s shift. It’s an incredible experience. These officers are putting their lives on the line with every encounter day in and day out. The officer I rode along with was very courteous and caring with every human being he came in contact with. He is a military reservist and has recently been called to Iraq to serve his second tour of duty.
At the Academy we saw first hand how the communications department functions. We learned a lot about domestic terrorism and how it’s handled. We learned about domestic violence and about gangs. The set demonstration was marvelous as was the DUI presentation. I put on a pair of goggles that simulated drunkenness and tried to drive a golf cart around the lot. I said “no way” will I drive, I can’t see an inch in front of me. We learned about gun safety and narcotics and toured the jail. We had some hands on work in the forensics lab lifting fingerprints, etc.
One of the highlights for us was meeting and interacting with Buddy, the K9. I will never forget his sweet loving nature and his ability to immediately jump into action on command to do his job. What a loving and loyal dog. Forgot to mention the Harbor Patrol Cruise which was another highlight. We covered many more areas that are just too numerous to mention, but you will experience them all as you continue each week in the academy. We got to meet up again with Timothy Jackman at our graduation and enjoyed our interaction with him even more than the first night we met in class. He is a marvelous chief of police and runs a very efficient and respectful department. Everyone should enroll in the Citizen Police Academy — they owe it to themselves.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 14, 2008. Read the original PDF.