By: David Weinstein
For the eighth time, the South Brunswick Police Department is offering residents 17 or older an inside look at the township Police Department through the Citizens Police Academy.
Classes will begin Sept. 7 and will run each subsequent Thursday for 12 weeks. They’re open to anyone who lives or works in South Brunswick. Each class begins at 6:30 p.m. and lasts three hours. There also will be three Saturday sessions, including a ride-along during an 8½ hour shift.
Graduation from the academy is slated for November 16.
"We’d like to invite members of the community to take part in the academy," said Lt. Ronald Schmalz, who has coordinated the program since its inception.
He said the 12-week program, modeled on one successfully used in Orlando, Fla. and San Antonio, Texas, gives residents a close look at the divisions within the Police Department, and allows residents to see the reality of policing.
"I think it’s a real eye-opener for most who take part," said Lt. Schmalz.
"Fictional policing, like on television, is the idea most people have of what it is we do here," he said.
To enforce the reality message of the academy’s classes and programs, Lt. Schmalz said, participants are placed into as many practical applications of policing as possible.
Included is a ride-along, during which an academy student will share a shift with a police officer and ride in a cruiser around the township.
South Brunswick is not the only community in the area that offers a Citizen Police Academy, Lt. Schmalz said. Edison and Franklin Township are two with similar programs, he said.
And, he said, communities without such a program have visited South Brunswick to learn more about how the academy is run.
"We’ve gotten quite a bit of notoriety about our academy," Lt. Schmalz said.
"I think it is because our students are so enthusiastic after the program is over. About 100 students have gone through, and they have formed an alumni association," he said.
The alumni, he said, have stayed active in keeping abreast of the Police Department’s activities, and have even gone so far as to request further training and offer recommendations to the department.
"It’s all about learning policing principles and dispelling fallacies about policing. It’s a good program," Lt. Schmalz said.
