By James Niedzinski
The Eagle-Tribune
SALEM, N.H. — There are no late bells or homework assignments, but students working their way through the citizen’ police academy are learning plenty.
Now in its sixth week of 10, eight students listened in as Salem police officer Matthew Norcross and Lt. Joel Dolan discussed community policing during a Tuesday night class.
Although the town’s community policing initiative was cut back years ago, it could be making a comeback.
If the policing effort does return, Dolan said, the job will be focused on fighting the heroin epidemic.
“It gives us more tools to fight the problem than we have at our disposal right now,” he said.
The community services unit is in the town’s budget for the next fiscal year, Dolan said, but the budget has yet to be finalized.
There’s about $25,000 in overtime costs associated with community policing, Dolan said, in addition to money set aside for promoting someone to a sergeant in the budget.
When the unit was active, officers were responsible for reaching out to residents at town events, such as Salem/Windham appreciation day at Canobie Lake Park.
Many events aimed at connecting with youths were cut back, Norcross said.
Norcross also spoke about how police officers talk to juveniles and the roles of school resource officers, a position he’s held for many years.
School resource officers have a variety of roles, Norcross said, from being an informal counselor to a mediator, and of course enforcing the law.
Resource officers can help in difficult situations, he said, such as talking to students or school staff members when a child is removed from a family when the parents have substance abuse issues.
“There are families in town that are struggling and suffering,” he said.
Police officers in schools get involved in other issues too, such as mediating between two students who are arguing.
Salem hired their first full-time school resource officer in the mid-1990s, Norcross said, the first in the state.
Police also spoke about how to handle juvenile offenders and how school resource officers have built lasting relationships with students.
Norcross said he still talks to some students he first encountered years ago.
And, Dolan said, police have to be careful when talking to juveniles when investigating a crime so police don’t put imaginative thought’s into someones head.
“You have to be very careful what you say to these kids,” Norcross said.
While Dolan and Norcross discussed the roles of school resource officers, community policing, connecting with juveniles and other issues, the class was not a tedious lecture.
Norcross started the class by showing a clip from the show “Reno 911,” a comedy that focuses on law enforcement.
“I do like to start off with a little humor,” he said.
When Norcross was speaking about students and how they report crimes or incidents, student Santina Boucher asked a playful question.
“So I shouldn’t smoke pot in front of my kid?” she said jokingly.
The 43-year-old nurse said she was enjoying the class so far.
Boucher said it’s nice to see what police do day to day.
“I wish everybody everybody in the community would do this,” she said.
Other students, such as Derek Coco, saw it as a good way to learn more about criminal justice.
“I was always interested in law enforcement,” he said.
Ashley Verdonck, 18, is going through the academy with her 20-year-old sister Jessica.
One interesting thing she learned, Verdonck said, was that Salem is the third busiest police department in the state, right behind Manchester and Nashua.
The Salem teen also said it was a good way to learn about law enforcement. She said she plans on following in her mother Kristen Verdonck’s footsteps. The elder Verdonck is a Salem police officer.
In the coming weeks, students will learn about accident reconstruction and K-9 units.
Coypright 2015 The Eagle-Tribune