COSTA MESA : 21 Citizens Enroll in Police Training

The Police Department enrolled 21 trainees Tuesday in the first class of its citizens academy.

For the next 10 weeks, the local residents and business owners who are members of the academy will ride with on-duty police officers, learn how to use police weapons and receive instruction on how the department conducts investigations.

“Our goal is to educate them about what the police do and on how they can go back into their neighborhoods and help us,” said Lt. Alan Kent, commander of the department’s Westside Station, where the classes are being held.

Kent said the academy is part of a campaign by the department to beef up community-based policing efforts. Once the trainees have completed the program, Kent said, they will be invited to continue as volunteers.

Several other Orange County police departments have established similar academies, and most say the programs have been very successful.

“Everyone who graduates becomes an ambassador,” Huntington Beach Police Lt. Jim Cutshaw said. “If there is a problem with the police in their neighborhood, for example, they can volunteer information.”

Chief Richard M. Tefank of the Buena Park Police Department said the academies help dispel negative stereotypes of officers.

“Some people think the police are unresponsive, or they have gotten tickets and think they did not deserve them. What they get is a real understanding and appreciation for what the police do,” Tefank said.