Checking in with the Lakeland Citizens Police Academy

Thought it might be a good time to check in with this year's Citizens Police Academy, so I visited the class last night. Speakers for the first half of the evening were Captains Tom Day and Harry Katt who gave an overview of our Uniform Patrol Divisions.

Captain Day started the class by holding a "patrol briefing" for the class members. Everyone was given their patrol assignment for the evening's shift - some were assigned to patrol zones, some became K-9 officers, and one lucky participant got assigned to the helicopter. Two unlucky members were assigned to stakeout duty on a business rooftop to look for burglars known to be working the neighborhood. That was not a good duty assignment to get during last night's thunderstorm.

The briefing included giving the rookies a list of stolen vehicles they needed to BOLO when on duty. Several failed to write down the vehicle descriptions and tag numbers and quickly caught the wrath of the Captain when they could not repeat the tag! The rookies will quickly learn to write this information in their notebooks. Several others failed a "uniform inspection" because their shoes were unpolished. Officers gotta look professional out there!

All of this, of course, was in good fun.

Captain Katt joined the presentation and went into greater detail explaining the operations of Uniform Patrol. Together the Captains spoke about the wide range of duties and responsibilities for each zone officer, the challenges that come with policing a community with the land area of Lakeland, and discussed current crime trends. Class members left with a better understanding of how Patrol provides basic police services 24/7 to our entire community.

The class members have up to this point learned about the basic mission of the police department, toured the Communications Center, learned about our Crime Analysis process, and discovered that Jack Gillen, our Public Information Officer, is not a shy and quiet guy when it comes to public speaking.

On the schedule for next week is a presentation on legal issues affecting law enforcement.

-Asst Chief Bill LePere