{"id":1646,"date":"2025-03-31T12:36:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T12:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/?p=1646"},"modified":"2025-03-31T12:36:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T12:36:59","slug":"my-experience-with-the-citizens-police-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/2025\/03\/31\/my-experience-with-the-citizens-police-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"My Experience with the Citizens Police Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Before going through the Citizens Police Academy<\/strong>, I had never interacted with the police\u2014not even for a traffic stop. Given the complex reputation of law enforcement, I was curious. I also wanted to take a step toward building connections and becoming more involved in my community. What I didn\u2019t expect was how eye-opening the experience would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most intense parts of the program was a six-hour ride-along with a police officer on a Friday night from 6:00 pm to midnight – easily the most out-of-my-comfort-zone<\/em> thing I\u2019ve ever done! I saw firsthand the demands of policing and the split-second decisions officers have to make. In one training simulation, I had six seconds to decide whether to shoot or not. I accidentally shot the hostage!!! \ud83d\ude30That moment made it clear: this job is high-stakes, and mistakes are inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond patrol work, I was amazed by the sheer scope of police operations – from Aviation unit, to CSI, Gangs, K-9 unit, Behavioral health unit, SWAT, Narcan training, accident investigation, and the 911 call center. We got a chance to tour and chat with all departments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experience aligned with one of my Quality of Life (QoL) criteria: Expanding my knowledge of the world.<\/strong> I not only gained knowledge but also cultivated relationships and saw how important building connections is in shaping a well-functioning society. I walked away more informed and with a deeper appreciation for law enforcement. Now, I find myself hugging officers when I see them in public, something I never did before. Recently, I even binge-watched all seasons of S.W.A.T. <\/em>on NetFlix, and I appreciated it in a whole new light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone curious about law enforcement, I highly recommend this program. In my county, it ran twice a week for about 8 weeks, and it was worth every minute. It reshaped my perspective, deepened my respect, and reinforced the power of learning through experience.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Before going through the Citizens Police Academy, I had never interacted with the police\u2014not even for a traffic stop. Given the complex reputation of law enforcement, I was curious. I also wanted to take a step toward building connections and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_eb_attr":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-citizen-police"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Picture3.jpg?fit=550%2C590","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1646"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1651,"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646\/revisions\/1651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.processeducation.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}