By Elisa Lala
Press of Atlantic City
A crop of new students gathered in Cape May County Public Safety Training Center’s lecture hall on a recent Monday evening to listen to a talk given by Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor on the criminal justice system.
After each pause in Taylor’s overview, a sea of hands would fly into the air. “But what exactly does that mean?” one student asked. “Tell me this then ...” another followed up.
Taylor wasn’t annoyed or insulted by the questions. Instead, he welcomed the inquiries, patiently translating the legal jargon into terminology that could be easily understood by the ordinary man or woman.
That’s because the approximately 20 students - men and women, young and old, from all over of Cape May County - are ordinary men and women participating in Cape May County’s Citizens Police Academy.
The Citizens Police Academy is a program designed to give community members a sample of what it’s like to be a law-enforcement officer by giving them a crash course in the training. It’s sponsored by the Cape May County Freeholder Ralph E. Sheets Jr. and Chief Robert Matteucci, President of the Cape May County Chiefs of Police Association. Sheets is also a member of the Cape May County Chiefs of Police Association and the former chief of the Wildwood Police Department.
Held over the course of nine consecutive Monday evenings from Feb. 28 until April 28, participants will learn about the duties of the law-enforcement officials who serve them, gain a base line of knowledge regarding the legal system and participate in several simulated police operations.
Then, on April 25, the citizens will “graduate” from the academy, with a ceremony held to honor their commitment and participation in the program.
Cape May Police Chief Diane Sorentino, one of the program’s coordinators, said the Citizen Police Academy also fosters a positive working relationship between police and the people they serve.
“We’re not training (the citizens) to become law-enforcement officials,” she said. “We’re giving them an idea of the level and type of training the officers who serve them went through.”
Upcoming discussion topics will include crime scene investigation, crimes against children, traffic-related activities, use of force, SWAT team demonstrations and internal affairs, Sorentino said. Participants also will be trained and certified in both cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of an automated external defibrillator.
Newcomers are still welcome to join and participation is free, she said.
During the March 7 session, both Taylor and Robert Boyd, a retired chief of Cape May City Police Department and an instructor at the academy, spoke to the class.
After finishing his lecture on criminal law, Boyd explained to his citizen students that his main ambition in training law-enforcement officials is to teach them how to stop thinking like a kid on the street and start thinking like an officer.
“When they leave here, they may not have the answer to every question, but they darn well know how to think,” he said. “They will know what they saw and know that they made the right call. Don’t doubt them.”
Sorentino said many residents join the Citizens Police Academy because they simply want to know where their tax money is going and what the police departments actually do with that money.
“Public safety remains a big budget item across the county,” she said. “People have a valid reason to be here.”
Participants at the March 7 session included two Cape May council members, Deanna Fiocca and Bill Murray, fire police Lt. Skip Loughlin, retired residents of the Cape May community and a couple of teenagers.
Some had never heard of the program prior to this year, and others had graduated from the academy three or four times already, only to return.
Lt. Loughlin, of Cape May, said the material he has learned over the years made him more appreciative of law-enforcement officials’ roles in the community. This is Loughlin’s fifth time participating in the program. This year, he invited 17-year-old Kyle Kuhar, a family friend from South Egg Harbor, to attend the Citizens Police Academy with him.
Kuhar said he joined because he is interested in the profession and wants to learn more. Two classes in, and he likes it.
Loughlin said it’s a crime that every seat in the lecture hall isn’t full.
“Residents should be running to join,” he said. “It’s free, there’s no tests and it sure beats whatever is on TV.”
Copyright 2011 The Press of Atlantic City