Public Gets Cop’s View : Citizen Academy in Westminster Offers Look at Police Work

Vera Palomino’s heart raced as she clutched her shotgun and prepared to storm the room where a jilted husband was holding his wife and two others at gunpoint.

At the direction of her commander, she and four other members of her SWAT team began running down the narrow, well-lit hallway. They started yelling as they approached the room, and as the commander pushed open the door, the sound of gunfire pierced the air and smoke engulfed them.

“My God, I’m shaking with adrenaline!” Palomino exclaimed. Then, coughing from the smoke and laughing with her comrades, she retreated back to the classroom in the basement of the Westminster Police Department to begin another lesson on “hostage negotiations.”

Palomino is one of 19 Westminster residents participating in the Citizen Academy, a nine-week course that gives residents a hands-on look at police operations.

The free program, developed from a similar course out of Lincoln, Neb., is the first of its kind in Orange County. It includes lectures, demonstrations, discussions of police procedures, patrol car ride-alongs, and most importantly, police say, it puts residents in the shoes of police officers.

“We tailor it to the community,” said Lt. Andrew Hall, who developed the Westminster program. “We’re trying to take the time to explain a lot of the things we’ve been unwilling or unable to explain in the past--why a police officer does this or that. This course is an opportunity for the citizens to interact with employees on a personal basis and give direct feedback.”

Participants in the course, which began June 24, include community leaders who were invited with the hope that they will take what they’ve learned and “enlighten the community,” Hall said.

For the next class, which begins Sept. 21, the department will select people who “aren’t the Police Department’s biggest fans, who view us with suspicion,” such as residents who have filed complaints, Police Chief James Cook said. “Hopefully the program will alleviate their suspicions.”

Although the class takes officers away from other duties like patrolling streets, Cook said, “It’s time well spent in terms of making a better community. “

Thus far, participants say they have come to a greater appreciation of police officers and their duties.

“It’s one of the best classes I’ve ever had in my life,” said Anji Clemens, vice principal of Westminster High School. “It really gives you the feelings that police officers have, and it will also help me tremendously in my job at Westminster High School, because I do much the same thing as police--identifying problems, watching, monitoring.”

Jo Porter, who is active in neighborhood watch programs, said she “thought I knew a lot for being involved for so long. But this is incredible, this is the real inner workings of the department.”

The course has also helped police officers get residents’ perspectives on them.

“I learn their point of view, and they also have pretty insightful ways to approach problems,” Hall said. “One of the greatest lessons I’ve had is how much we’ve grossly overestimated the information they had about what we were doing. We don’t give nearly enough explanation to people about our services.”

Classes have included live demonstrations of a police dog, mock car stops, and “shoot/don’t shoot” pop-up target drills, in which students are given a scenario and must determine whether to shoot the “bad guy”--simulating the situation a police officer would face in a dark alley, Cook said.

During last week’s SWAT team scenario, one academy student acted as commander while four others acted as the team, and the rest of the class watched. Explorer Scouts (high school students interested in becoming police officers) acted as the hostages and hostage-taker. The students were directed to devise a way to safely rescue the hostages.

Participants were not entirely successful on that front, but they learned what it feels like to be in such a situation.

“I felt myself getting involved, and going into the mode of danger,” said Palomino, who is president of Manos Unidas, an organization that helps Latinos in the community. “I could feel my heart pumping--I had the bulletproof vest on, I was carrying the big, heavy gun, and it made me think of what officers feel like going through that situation, knowing nothing of the outcome. Then with the smoke, the screaming, you can’t think of anything but danger.”

“I was still shaking when I came back,” said John Arnold, who works with Blessed Sacrament parish and acted as SWAT team commander. “It got my adrenaline flowing, and gave me a good sense of how seriously they need to take it.”

Westminster SWAT Team Commander Sgt. Mitch Waller, who developed the drill, hoped it would show students the difference between what a real SWAT Team faces and Hollywood’s version.

“We wanted them to see the danger we’re faced with when we know someone is armed and dangerous, and we still have to go in there and rescue lives,” he said. “Often, people get their information through Hollywood, and when they see the real version, they don’t understand why we are doing that. Hopefully, after this class, they can have a better understanding of our job.”