Purdue Police Department to host Citizen's Police Academy

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University's police department is offering a free course that will allow the public to get a feel for what it is like to serve and protect.

The Citizen's Police Academy, an eight-week program that meets from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Thursdays at the Purdue Police Department, will begin on Feb. 28, with the last session scheduled for April 25. It is open to the first 25 people to register. 

The only Thursday the class will not be in session is March 14, during Purdue spring break week.

Purdue police Sgt. Keene Red Elk said the academy has been one of the police department's more popular outreach programs since its inception in 2004. Sessions are participatory. The first-week session includes an introduction, overview, a department tour and the department's use of bicycle patrols. Sessions thereafter include:

* March 7. S.T.O.P.S.

* March 21. Crime scene management.

* April 4. Firearms training.

* April 11. Polygraph testing, drug recognition, CALEA accreditation and the records department.

* April 18. DUI enforcement, emergency vehicle operations, and the K-9 unit.

* April 25. Graduation.

Participants will drive fully marked squad cars on a controlled course and receive instruction on field sobriety testing and traffic stops. They also will work in a "crime lab" taking latent fingerprints, analyzing blood spatter and practicing other forensic techniques.



Anyone interested in participating can email Susan Nelson at the police department at sjnelson@purdue.edu. The police department is at 205 S. Martin Jischke Drive, West Lafayette.

Writer: Jim Bush, 765-494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu