JACKSONVILLE Back to school

Police hope hands-on school improves community relations

By Amy Widner

LITTLE ROCK — The Jacksonville Police Department is conducting its first Citizens Police Academy beginning Tuesday, Sept. 2, and hopes to make the free, eight-week program of information sharing and relationship building a yearly or semiyearly tradition.

Training Sgt. Brett Hibbs is coordinating the classes, which will be onvarying subjects and taught by officers with first-hand knowledge of the topics. The classes will cover everything from what officers look for while they are on patrol to the rights of limitations of officers when they are searching, arresting or detaining suspects, including when they can or cannot use force.

The classes will take a hands-on approach, and it is planned for participants to do things like lift fingerprints, fire the weapons used by the police department, ride along with an officer on patrol, tour the county jail and see K-9 demonstrations like a vehicle search for narcotics and an apprehension (when the dog catches a suspect).

“Generally it’s just to give the citizens a better understanding of what we do and why we do some of thethings we do,” Hibbs said. “The goal is to have a better understanding between the police and the citizens of Jacksonville. It helps them know what we need in certain situations like when we’re investigating a crime and how to be a good witness.”

According to a press release, the idea behind the academy is that “ edu-cated citizens will be more supportive of police officers and the department and will be more productive within their own neighborhoods and communities.”

Seventeen people signed up for the class, and Hibbs said the class represents a good mix of people: men and women of varying ages. Several city aldermen have signed up, including Kevin McCleary, who said he is particularly excited about riding with an officer in a police vehicle and getting a better idea of what officers go through on a day-to-day basis.

“I think those guys, our policemen, do an awesome job,” McCleary said. “I want to see firsthand just what they go through so I can see their needs and know how to help make sure Jacksonville stays on the cutting edge as far as technology and their needs go.”

Alderman Bill Howard said he was encouraged by the good turnout for Jacksonville’s first year participating in the national Night Out Against Crime on Aug. 5 and has signed up for the Citizens Police Academy because he thinks communitybuilding activities between police and residents are important.

“I like to know what’s going on with our police and try to help them out in any way I can,” Howard said. “I think we’ve got a good police chief (Gary Sipes) on board who’s going to work to make some improvements inJacksonville, and I want to know whatever ways there are to help them do that. I want to find out what their needs are, and hopefully get some useful information that I can relay back to the people of Jacksonville.”

The different subjects will be criminal investigations, DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), use of force, communityoriented policing, narcotics, K-9 duties, traffic stops and officer survival, special response team and less lethal weapons. Students will complete a ridealong and have a graduation ceremony.

“Basically, what they’re going to teach is what they do,” Hibbs said.

The academy will begin with a tour of the jail. The firearms lesson will cover weapon safety and the kind of weapons the department uses before moving to the range, where participants will have a chance to fire each of those weapons in a controlled environment.

The criminal investigations lesson will cover how felony and misdemeanor cases and crime scenes are investigated. Students will learn techniques like lifting fingerprints, photography and documenting a scene. DARE officers will explain their role in schools. Narcotics officers will explain the common drugs for the area and explain what they look for, how drug crimes are investigated, how search warrants are obtained and how drug houses are closed.

Community-oriented policing will cover things like nuisances, crime prevention and gangs. Use of force will teach when force is acceptable and what degree of force can be used depending on the situation. Defensive techniques willbe demonstrated, like pressure points, batons, handcuffing, takedowns, strikes and kicks. That class will also cover officers rights and limitations, Hibbs said.

“Sometimes people think we’re the police and we can do whatever we want,” Hibbs said. “They don’t understand sometimes why we can’t. We have certain limitations, and we’ll help them understand what we can and can’t do.”

The K-9 demonstration will show the different tactics that can be used with a K-9: vehicle searches, tracking, building searches for narcotics and people and catching a suspect. Traffic stops and officer survival will cover traffic-stop procedures and the safety tactics officers use while on patrol. Less-lethal weapons will cover things like pepperball launchers, bean-bag rounds and pepper spray.

Graduation will include awards like a diploma, lapel pin, T-shirts and a class photo.

Participants are limited to those 18 and older who live or work inside Jacksonville city limits. They must pass a background check and have had no felony convictions and no misdemeanor convictions for at least one year. The classes will meet 6:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesdays. The deadline to register has already passed.

More information is available by calling the department at (501) 982-3191, visiting www.cityofjacksonville.net or e-mailing bhibbs@cityofjacksonville.net.

- awidner@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 51, 52 on 08/21/2008