The Brunswick Police Department’s Citizen’s Police Academy is designed to acquaint residents of Brunswick, Glynn County and surrounding areas with the goals, objectives, organizational structure and general operating procedures of the department, and to promote good will, mutual understanding and community support.
The training for the academy is not designed to train students to become police officers. It is a means of training and familiarizing citizens with the intricacies and inner workings of their local law enforcement agency. The academy provides a means to establish a more meaningful partnership between the citizens and the police department. The end result of this partnership is a stronger community effort to combat crime.
Student participate in action-oriented activities such as:
- riding with officers on patrol.
- professional firearms training at firing range.
- participating in mock traffic stops.
- touring the Brunswick Police Department headquarters.
- demonstrations by the G.B.I. Bomb Disposal Unit.
- processing and solving the crime at a mock crime scene.
- Nancy Wilkes, 2005 CPA member, during her mock traffic stop.
- Citizens’ Police Academy Class of 2005
- 2005 CPA member Linda Gibson practices her traffic stop approach during the mock traffic stop portion of the CPA.
- Janice Slade, COP member, plays the part of “the murder victim” in a Citizen’s Police Academy mock crime scene.
- “Doc” Saleeby, dedicated COP member, plays the role of suspect during the 2005 CPA mock crime scene.
- Sgt. Robert Depp demonstrates fingerprint lifting to the CPA students.
Program topics include:
- an overview of the structure and activities of the department.
- presentations by the Glynn Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Department of Natural Resources, the Glynn County School Resource officers, and the Georgia State Patrol among others.
- criminal law. police operations, traffic law enforcement, criminal investigations, patrol operations, and special operations.
- crime prevention programs, gang and narcotic information, and law enforcement communications.
The Citizen’s Police Academy is coordinated by the Public Affairs section of the police department and is an effort to establish a more informed citizenry. In addition, this academy provides members of the community the opportunity to provide information on on their law enforcement needs and to learn the needs of law enforcement. This helps to establish a more effective dialogue between law enforcement and the community and…a more effective partnership.