Ed Hoffman, Guest Blogger, No Phone Number Available
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 at 10:11 a.m.
Update 08-24-2016: Level 1 and Level 2 Citizens Academies are full.
Spokane is served by highly trained professionals, professionals who use their skills and abilities to keep us safe, professionals who arrive in black and white units to find out how they can serve you. The Citizen’s Academy is the best way a community member can gain understanding of the daily tasks we assign to our professional Police Officers.
I am blessed to serve the men and women of the Spokane Police Department. I know our community is blessed to have the best of the best serving our citizens. Even as the Senior Chaplain for the Spokane Police Department, I believe I have a well-rounded working knowledge of the job of those I serve, then I attend the five week Citizen Academy and realize I still have a lot to learn. The Spokane Police Department’s Citizen’s Academy opened my eyes a little wider with every class the instructors presented. Which is why I would encourage those who think they know what our officers do to come get a snippet of what our officers actually do on a daily basis. It’s not every day the general public is invited to take part in police work, and at no cost, who can say no?
The individuals who teach each class are highly trained in their area of expertise. Whether it’s Sgt. Boothe educating you on the firearms and Virta, Sgt. Kendall offering the opportunity to be tased as you learn about the Use of Force, Officer Dollard’s ability to provide an understanding in Patrol Procedures, as well as learning the aspects and integration of body cameras, SWAT, K-9, etc. I won’t lie to you, it’s like drinking from a fire hose, which is weird because that’s a completely different department.
I would encourage a commitment to the Citizen’s Academy which pays dividends through better understanding. While the Citizen’s Academy is an overview and probably the fastest five weeks in law enforcement; the occasion to spend time and learn from the highly trained professionals serving as the backbone of our community does not come around every day, so be quick to seize this opportunity to learn the demands of the job, the constraints of the laws within which officers work, and how truly blessed we are to have the best.
New session start September 1 - Free to attend. See our flyer for more information (PDF 757 KB).
