GILROY
– The Dec. 31 deadline is approaching to sign up for the Gilroy
Police Department’s annual, 13-week course in which citizens get a
taste of the training local officers receive.
GILROY – The Dec. 31 deadline is approaching to sign up for the Gilroy Police Department’s annual, 13-week course in which citizens get a taste of the training local officers receive.
The fifth annual Citizens Police Academy, as it is called, is not about molding civilians into “quasi-cops,” according to GPD officials. Rather, they say, it’s mostly about explaining to people how and why city police officers do what they do.
“It’s not police academy, where you get training on how to handle situations,” GPD Citizen Academy Coordinator Maribel Gutierrez said.
But police officers don’t want to just talk at people; they want feedback, too.
Officials say the academy is meant to be a chance for dialogue, for residents and cops to learn from each other. That way, they say, people may gain an understanding and a more positive perception of city police, and they in turn, will know what the community needs and wants.
There’s no charge – the city pays the cost. Participants will meet from 6 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday between March 9 and June 1, 2004. Refreshments will be served.
Much of the course will take place in a classroom, but participants will also be taken to the firing range to be instructed in use of GPD firearms and to try their hand at target practice.
Each participant will also join an officer on a regular patrol, riding along in the police car.
Among the topics covered in the course will be criminal law, patrol procedures, domestic violence, traffic laws, narcotic enforcement, gang intervention, investigative operations, K-9 (police dog use) and firearms safety.
“Each unit within the Police Department puts on a class,” Gutierrez said.
After receiving a certificate of completion for the course, each participant will be invited to join the GPD in its Volunteers in Policing program, doing traffic control, helping monitor for junk cars of helping with filing.
Not everyone is allowed to take part in the academy.
Applicants must be at least 18 years old, live or work within the city limits and have no prior felony convictions and no misdemeanor arrests within a year before applying.
Ultimately, however, selection is up to Police Chief Gregg Giusiana.
The chief, who will participate in the academy, may waive any of these requirements or deny admission based on other criteria.
Assistant Chief Lanny Brown and Sgt. Noel Provost started the Citizens Police Academy four years ago in response to questions from the public about police procedures.
Police in Hollister, Salinas, San Jose and Santa Cruz run similar academies, according to Gutierrez.
For more information about the Citizens Police Academy or to find out how to get an application, call GPD Citizen Academy Coordinator Maribel Gutierrez at 846-0523.
