SANFORD — Seventeen young people spent a week this summer learning a bit of what life is like as a police officer. In a couple of weeks, another group will get the same chance.
Welcome to Junior Police Academy, where women are addressed as “ma’am,” men as “sir,” and inspections for tidiness are frequent.
There’s a lot to learn. And the young people, all of whom attended Willard or Sanford Junior High School through June, are having a good time of it.
Matt Goodwin, 14, will be attending Sanford High School come September. And like his peers in Junior Police Academy, he could have spent the week at home, goofing around, doing what kids do in the summer. Instead, he’s having a ball learning to march, how to be respectful and, in his words, learning just how hard a police officer’s job can be.
“It’s a lot of hard work and you have to pay attention,” said A.J. Chabot, 14.
Besides learning a bit about conflict resolution, and topics like the job of a school resource officer, the students also hear first-hand from members of the Sanford Police Department’s Special Response Team, the dispatch department and from Sanford Police Officer Jason Champlin, who brought his canine partner, Kruger, for a class.
“I want to be a detective when I grow up so this was a good place to get started,” said Goodwin, on a break from the daily marching stint, where it is “eyes front” and no grinning.
Why does he want to be a detective?
“I like catching people who do bad things to other people,” he said.
Junior Police Academy, along with a separate summer mentoring program designed for high school students that starts next week, are run by Sanford Police Officers Mike “Tipper” Thornton and Mike Gordon.
Police Chief Thomas Connolly said the two school resource officers ”“ Thornton at Sanford Junior High School and Gordon at Sanford High School ”“ developed the programs.
“We wanted to show them what a police officer goes through to be trained,” said Connolly of the junior police academy. He said the two programs are a part the department’s commitment to community policing.
While Junior Police Academy begins at 8 a.m., students usually arrive for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. They take a break for lunch and then it’s work, work, work until the classes break up at 2 p.m.
Thornton said he’s enjoyed the week and the students have too ”“ they’ve been attending every day.
“This gives them a taste, an insight,” he said.
Gordon said the academy, as well as the high school mentoring program, help break down some of the barriers between citizens and police. For the mentoring program, Gordon developed a curriculum that includes decision-making, conflict resolution, nutrition and fitness, and helping the students develop life skills.
“It’s a different approach to crime prevention,” Gordon said.
Junior Police Academy is designed for the younger students.
High School student Chris Chabot has been the platoon leader for this Junior Police Academy. Thornton said he’ll be a senior platoon leader for the next class, as there will be two more to help out.
Chabot volunteered for the spot. He said he got to know Thornton while attending junior high school and now Gordon at the high school.
“This really shows you and tells you what the job is like and it’s really cool,” said student Sasha Smith, 14, who said she enjoyed learning how dispatchers handle 911 calls, seeing the equipment used by the Special Response Team and learning about graffiti, gangs and working with a K-9 from Officer Champlin. “It totally puts you in someone else’s shoes for a day.”
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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