Citizens Police Academy

The Police Training Institute is offering its Citizen Police Academy course again next month. Registration has begun with local departments to submit your information and pass a background check. The series of 10 three-hour classes will be on Thursday evenings from April 4th through June 6th. Here's a little information to help you get started:


What is the Police Training Institute?

From their about webpage:

Established in 1955 by state statute, the University of Illinois Police Training Institute is one of the largest and longest running police academies in the United States. The institute has trained thousands of police and correctional officers since its inception, preparing students to be leaders and professionals in the ever more important peace-keeping function in our communities.

The University of Illinois and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board have formed a partnership to provide premier law enforcement training and academic research in the field of law enforcement and criminal justice. The Police Training Institute provides a 560-hour Basic Law Enforcement Academy, 200-hour Basic Correctional Officer Academy, and advanced specialty courses in firearms and arrest & control tactics. We also offer a citizens police academy for community members to learn about law enforcement and partnering with police to keep our communities safe.

What is the Citizen Police Academy?

From the Citizen Police Academy webpage:

The Citizen Police Academy is an educational and informative program that allows citizens the opportunity to learn about the issues that face law enforcement efforts in Champaign County. This program is offered in cooperation with the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, University of Illinois Police Department, Urbana Police Department, Champaign Police Department, Rantoul Police Department, the Mahomet Police Department, Parkland Public Safety, and District 10 of the Illinois State Police.

It's available for free to local residents. To register you only need to contact your local cooperating police department in the list above (non-emergency telephone numbers available at the links). The background check requires basic personal and contact information such as your birth date and local address. Here is the pamphlet and information posted by the Champaign Police Department's facebook page as an example:

Registration is open for the 2019 Champaign County Citizen Police Academy!

This is a great opportunity to gain a better understanding of the structure and operations of local law enforcement agencies and how to improve lines of communication between police and the community.

Interested in attending? Contact your local police department to begin the process.

Regardless of one's political views, being better informed about criminal justice information and perspectives from police and police educators could certainly be helpful in understanding local policies and the government's current role in policing.


(Hat tip to Nicole Padilla in Spotted in Chambana for highlighting this earlier.)