Registration open for new free sessions of Sheriff’s Citizens Police Academy which starts Aug. 28; Call 278-7628; 600 residents have attended since 1999

There’s no better way to learn about law enforcement than the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Citizens Police Academy, which is free, held in Chalmette and participants will learn about what police work entails in the parish, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Parish residents who want to know more about St. Bernard law enforcement and ask questions to officers should register for the free, 12-week Citizens Police Academy sessions which begin Aug. 28.

Call Capt. Charles Borchers at (504) 278-7628 to register. Classes will meet each Wednesday at 7 p.m. through graduation night in November. They will be held in the sheriff’s 2nd-floor Training Center in a parish government building at 2118 Jackson Ave. in Chalmette, immediately behind the Courthouse. The Assessor’s Office is in the same building.

Borchers, head of Community Relations for the Sheriff’s Office, runs the Citizens Police Academy classes and coordinates Neighborhood Watch programs and the National Night Out Against Crime event for the department. Anyone who wants to start a neighborhood Watch on their street, hold a Night Out against Crime get-together or apply for the sheriff’s Reserve Division should also call Borchers.

Sheriff Pohlmann said, “Our Sheriff’s Citizens Police Academy classes will answer a lot of the questions you may have about law enforcement here and why things are done the way they are.’’ Graduates, he said, become “ambassadors for law enforcement because they have a vested interest in what happens in St. Bernard.’’

He also said there are frank discussions about specifics of law enforcement in St. Bernard and in addition to asking questions residents can give their in-put.

Any resident who has attended sheriff’s lectures on how to avoid being a victim of crime would find the citizens Police Academy another interesting learning tool, Pohlmann said.

Some 600 parish residents have graduated the Sheriff’s Citizens Police Academy in St. Bernard since its inception in 1999.

There are numerous features to the Citizens Police Academy program which participants say they enjoy, such as:

– Hearing from sheriff’s commanders on various phases of law enforcement including patrol work, narcotics enforcement, detective duties, SWAT team demonstrations.
– Receiving boating safety tips.
– Experiencing a firearms simulator program which has participants react to computerized scenarios which ask them to make split-second decisions on whether to shoot a criminal defendant.
– Hands-on demonstrations of equipment including the new sheriff’s high-water truck purchased with a grant and used in rain events, weapons and a robot used for checking suspicious items are also part of the program – On-site tours of Parish Prison and the new renovated parish Courthouse.
– Lectures from law enforcement agencies from outside St. Bernard

The classes will feature speakers from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and are geared to fostering good relations between the community and law enforcement.

This is the sixth class for the Sheriff’s Citizens Police Academy since Hurricane Katrina and more than 170 people have graduated those five sessions, said Borchers.