The Peabody Police Department opened applications for its next session of Citizens Academy, which will run Wednesday nights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Oct. 16 to Dec. 18.
The academy covers several topics, including terrorism, the legal process, motor vehicle law, patrol procedures, domestic violence, and Investigations. The program also includes a firearms class, where students can shoot various weapons at our indoor firing range and participate in motor vehicle stop scenarios.
The department has been hosting the program for nine years and hosts two sessions and a year, Cpt. Scott Richards, founder and coordinator of the program, said. He first heard of the idea when he was an officer in Groveland and another officer hosted a one-time citizen’s academy program as part of a school project.
“It was a very good program and everybody loved it,” he said.
The goal of the program is to “humanize people officers,” Richards said.
His favorite part of the program is having participants understand what police officers do and, more importantly, who they are as people.
“We’re human beings just like everybody else. We’re not perfect, we’re not robots. We do make mistakes, but we try to do the best job that we can — a job that most people don’t want to do or can’t do,” Richards said.
He said his favorite topic of the program is the class he teaches about politics and policing, which teaches people how officers navigate their work through the increasing amount of legislation and political interference to their job.
Participants of the academy have provided positive feedback and responded well to the program, he said.
The academy’s instructors include members of the Peabody Police Department, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, a release from the department stated. “All instructors are well-versed in their subject matter and strongly encourage class participation.”
“It’s a fantastic program for the citizens to get a great view of the Peabody Police Department and the inner-workings of the Peabody Police Department,” Richards said.
“The Citizen’s Academy allows residents to become much more familiar with the inner workings of the Peabody Police Department,” Police Chief Tom Griffin said in the press release. “Participants gain an entirely different perspective into the community in which they live when they learn to see things through the eyes of a police officer.”
“We hope and expect that participants will graduate from the Citizen’s Academy with a newfound appreciation for what we as police officers do,” Richards said in the release. “Participants will finish with a good deal of first-hand knowledge of how the Department operates. It will be a real eye-opener.”
Residents can apply for the Citizens Academy by picking up an application at the police station or downloading the application from the Peabody Police Department website, www.peabodypolice.org.
The program is open to Peabody residents beginning at 21 years old, or 18 if they are accompanied by an adult.
All applications must be completed and submitted to Officer David Murphy (dmurphy@peabodypolice.org) on or before Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2024.
