The DeKalb County Sheriff’s office is now accepting applications for its Citizen Police Academy.
The program started in 1996, and has had more than 500 graduates since then.
DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott says the 10-week course took a year off last year, but is back with updated information and a “hot topics” session.
Scott says participants benefit from the hands-on structure of the academy:
“We hope they will be able to be a better informed citizen, so when they read things in the paper, or hear them on the radio, or see them on TV, that they will have a better understanding of the whole scope of that.”
Scott says the academy isn’t meant to prepare residents to become actual officers, but is a chance for a behind-the-scenes look at the criminal justice system.
“It gives them real people who are actually doing the job, and are not necessary trained instructors or their media people, but they are there to talk about what they do and then they get to interact with them.”
Applicants must live or work in DeKalb County and must be over the age of 21 and pass a background check.
