Twenty four South Brunswick residents spent 10 weeks learning about a variety of police topics including criminal law, traffic enforcement, first aid, patrol tactics and criminal investigations.
Renu Advani, Mahesh Advani, Ibrahim Awwad, Candice Cabel-Dlugosz, Gustave Dubiner, David Hoyt, Philip Jaccoma, Christopher Johnson, Hema Kakar, Loi Tien Lim, Daniel Mandell, Parthasarathi Milikarjun, Patricia Mulroy, Colt Murphy, Ravi Motwani, Shirish Naik, Rey Ordiales, Deven Patel, Shreekant Pujari, Jerry Reifsnyder, Sanjay Sanyal, Aman Tomar, S. Venkatakrishnan and Dominick Vozzo graduated from the South Brunswick Citizen Police Academy on Nov. 17.
The program offered a behind-the-scenes look at policing taught by members of the South Brunswick force.
The students were given hands-on training on how police process crime scenes from photographing to dusting for prints. They sat in a driving simulator and received firsthand perspective on emergency and pursuit driving. The class culminated with participants being placed in roles as police officers and applied the knowledge they learned from the class to handle the situations.
“We are committed to strengthening our partnership with the community and giving the residents a better understanding of what we do,” said Chief Raymond Hayducka. “I have received so much positive feedback from the participants and the officers that were involved. The academy offered a perspective and openness that is the key to our agency’s success. At the end of the 10 weeks, we have residents that know us better, and officers who know residents better.”
The academy participants wrote a letter to Hayducka summarizing their experience, stating: “It is abundantly clear that the men and women of the South Brunswick Police Department are true heroes. From the moment we walked into the training room, the officers were warm, welcoming, helpful and informative. They made each class fly by with their well thought out presentations as well as their great personalities. This program is incredibly eye-opening.”
The graduation marked the first class held by the police department in more than five years.