Beginning in September, Lansdale Police will be welcoming our inaugural class into our Citizens Police Academy (CPA), where students will engage in eight weeks of classroom and hands on training covering everything from basic department functions and operations to building searches and event management. Lansdale will be joining six neighboring communities that already engage in a citizen’s academy.
The establishment of this training, and our hopeful outcome, is that residents will have a more complete understanding of how our police department operates, trains, and integrates into the community to have a more complete impact in our community. Additionally, this is a proactive approach to helping residents become involved and engaged in how Lansdale is policed. Students will have the opportunity to explore how and why processes take place and the impact those decisions can have on everything from an investigation to a simple traffic stop.
Our hope is that those who complete the program will walk away with added clarity, transparency, and knowledge about exactly how our police add value to our community every day. To be clear, this program is not a training ground for people to take civilian or citizen action on their own. There is value in residents knowing and understanding the type of information a department may need from a witness, but we are not looking for graduates of this program to become a citizen police force in any capacity.
Applications for the CPA will be found online at the Lansdale Police Department’s website and will be accepted from June 10 to June 24. To qualify you must be a resident of the borough and over the age of 21. Classes will be two hours each week and we will only be accepting 10 to 12 applicants for this initial class. Applications will be reviewed internally alongside a criminal history check which will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. All students will be provided with a shirt and, upon completion, a graduation certificate.
Class Topics by week:
Again, it is our hope that this program will help build a stronger partnership between residents and our Lansdale Police Department. In other communities with this program, graduates of the CPA are the first people asked to help manage large scale events as volunteers, which would increase safety and help make events in the borough run even more smoothly.
As your community police department, we believe that your involvement is critical to improving our community. The establishment of a CPA is a natural expansion of that thinking and our dedication to a “guardian” mentality which strives to work with everyone to keep us all moving forward together.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own and not representative of North Penn Now or Lansdale Borough.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Remember to Vote Today!
Mayoral Musings: New Block Party Rules for Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: Lansdale’s 2023 Events Season is Upon Us
Mayoral Musings: Two-Way Conversion of Courtland and Susquehanna
Mayoral Musings: Local Scouts Prove to be Assets to Our Community
