SOUTH GATE : An Inside Look at Law Enforcement

Sitting quietly in his cell in the South Gate Jail, Councilman Jerry Garcia contemplated his predicament.

“Hearing the door slam from the outside is totally different from hearing it on the inside,” he said from his bunk, trying not to breathe the rancid air of his cell. “This is a good tool. I think I can understand what it’s like to be in jail.”

The councilman and 14 other community members were the first to get locked up as part of a new eight-week citizens police academy training class that is designed to give participants an inside look at the Police Department.

The idea of the citizens academy, which is widely used across the country and as far away as England and Ireland, is to improve community-police relations, said Officer John Walters, who authored the program from his research on other citizen academies in the state.

“I have the life that I do because of the people in the city,” said Walters, who was born and raised in South Gate. “I wanted to say ‘thank you’ with this and to create a better relationship between the police and citizens,” he said. “If there’s a good relationship, there’s a lot more trust.”

Trust is the operative word for the 15 students, including a police chaplain, high school student, several business owners and community activists. Every Thursday night until May 11, the group will attend three-hour courses that are similar to those taught to police recruits. Another class of 15 is expected later this year.

The “recruits” go on patrols and learn about criminal law. They will be shown police dog demonstrations and on the last day of instruction, they will be given guns.

Academy students will go to the Police Department’s shooting range, where they will learn how to fire a Beretta 9-millimeter semiautomatic, a Colt .45-caliber pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle.

“The concept of this whole program is to put them through an environment they haven’t experienced before,” said Walt Thurner, the training manager for the Police Department and a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant.

That’s what the experience in jail was all about.

The click of handcuffs; the barking of a custody officer; the snap of a photograph. The metal doors of the cell clang shut.

Then, there’s silence.

“There’s no way out!” said Angie Castro, deputy city clerk, who like others was locked up for about 10 minutes. “This can inspire a sense of desperation.”