Citizens Police Academy

[tiviti]

I have a general question for those familiar with Citizen's Police Academies. I have been interested and looked into them for a few years, but I never actually applied. Looking online, it seems like class sizes are somewhat limited? How hard is it to get into/get rejected from one of these? If there are too many applicants, by what criteria are participants selected?

[MoJo]

All I know about are the Citizen's Police Academies in Jefferson and Orange counties. Both hold applications that are over the class size over until the next academy. I put my app in in Jefferson County in the Fall and was in the Spring's academy. Orange county I put in an app and due to to few applications the app was held over to the next time.

CPAs are a great way to learn about how Law Enforcement works and to make contacts in your local agencies. I am glad I went to both academies.

eta: The agencies in Jefferson and Orange counties run a background check no finger prints just a DL search to see if you are law abiding, after that comes back, and it is good you are put in chronological order. If you have a CHL you will most probably pass the selection process.

[Ed4032]

My wife and I went through the Plano CPA. It was a lot of fun. Six weeks every Thursday night. Got to drive a cop car with lights and siren.

[Cedar Park Dad]

I'm thining a bad DA could use this against you in a court of law as support that you are a teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee.

[thatguy]

My wife and I have been on the League City CPA for about 7 years and she was with Baytown CPA about 15 years ago. The entry program is 15 weeks (ours was a Thursday evening) for about 3 to 4 hours long and went over police procedures like the jail, forensics, fingerprinting, traffic stops, weapons handling etc... We made friends with fellow citizens, police officers and were able to participate in ride-alongs, surveillance (minor stuff), Simunition training with the SWAT team (that was a blast) as well as the Blue Santa program (my wife and I are Mr and Mrs Blue Santa, my favorite program!). In addition I feel I have a better understanding of how policing works, how criminals operate (there are some BAD people out there) but mostly there are more GOOD people out there helping other people. Aside from the usual politics which I just ignore, I'd recommend looking into it.

[sjfcontrol]

I'm thining a bad DA could use this against you in a court of law as support that you are a teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee.

Only if you graduate from the "George Zimmerman Citizen's Police Academy"

[Cedar Park Dad]

I'm thining a bad DA could use this against you in a court of law as support that you are a teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee.

Only if you graduate from the "George Zimmerman Citizen's Police Academy"

Thats kind of my point.

[n5wd]

I'm thining a bad DA could use this against you in a court of law as support that you are a teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee.

Only if you graduate from the "George Zimmerman Citizen's Police Academy"

Thats kind of my point.

Then don't do things that get you into trouble with the law in the first place.

If you're a "teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee", you'll probably be asked to leave and not come back after the first meeting.

[MoJo]

I'm thining a bad DA could use this against you in a court of law as support that you are a teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee.

A "bad" DA I prefer "overzealous" can and will use anything they can to make you look bad in court. You participate on gun and shooting web boards, you own and carry a gun, your third cousin's ex wife's second child's best friend was convicted of a crime of violence, and so forth.

If you are indicted for shooting someone you already are behind the eight ball and something like participating in a CPA may be more beneficial than detrimental.

[Cedar Park Dad]

I'm thining a bad DA could use this against you in a court of law as support that you are a teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee.

Only if you graduate from the "George Zimmerman Citizen's Police Academy"

Thats kind of my point.

Then don't do things that get you into trouble with the law in the first place.

If you're a "teeth gnashing vigilante cop wannabee", you'll probably be asked to leave and not come back after the first meeting.

And if you are forced to use that CC piece and the prosecutor decides to charge you with murder or manslaughter and brings up that you went to citizen police academy...look out.

EDIT: To be clear I have nothing against this, although its not my cup of tea. Just bringing up the notion that this could be used by a prosecutor arguing you were a crazed vigilante cop wanna be like was done in the Zimmerman trial.

[Waco1959]

I attended the Waco CPA and I really don't see how a DA could use it against you. Out of the 12 meetings only 2 had anything to do with use of force and one of those was on unarmed self-defense. We did get to use the police video shoot/no-shoot set-up but it was more to show how the police train and the rest of the night was talking about police training, police use of firearms, and some very basic do's and don'ts. Far more was covered the the first 2 hours of my CHL class.

I have been told that Waco's CPA class is fairly typical. You can see what is covered: http://www.waco-texas.com/police/police ... cademy.asp

[MotherBear]

It's really more of a get-to-know-your-PD community outreach thing than any sort of training for the attendees, so I don't see that using it against you would go anywhere. I've done two (Leander and Woodway) and it was definitely not a wannabe cop training at all. Those were in my pre-CHL days, so I was a 20ish college kid. In Leander there were several elderly couples in the class with me. I'd say most people in the class were pretty clueless about shooting and naive about crime. In Woodway there were a number of college students (the teaches/taught at Baylor and I think the CPA was somehow involved or recommended through the criminal justice department). In neither case did I get the feel it was a bunch of crazy vigilantes. Just people involved in their community or trying to get some extra credit.

[Waco1959]

In Woodway there were a number of college students (the teaches/taught at Baylor and I think the CPA was somehow involved or recommended through the criminal justice department). In neither case did I get the feel it was a bunch of crazy vigilantes. Just people involved in their community or trying to get some extra credit.

From what I have heard, Baylor requires (or strongly suggests) pre-law, CJ, and Sociology/Social Work majors to attend the CPA. My group ran from 20 to 70, with a median of about 50, and no students. The head of the CPA was very surprised that there were no Baylor students. Most, like me, were just looking to learn more about the local PD and what they really see/do.

[MotherBear]

In Woodway there were a number of college students (the teaches/taught at Baylor and I think the CPA was somehow involved or recommended through the criminal justice department). In neither case did I get the feel it was a bunch of crazy vigilantes. Just people involved in their community or trying to get some extra credit.

From what I have heard, Baylor requires (or strongly suggests) pre-law, CJ, and Sociology/Social Work majors to attend the CPA. My group ran from 20 to 70, with a median of about 50, and no students. The head of the CPA was very surprised that there were no Baylor students. Most, like me, were just looking to learn more about the local PD and what they really see/do.

Whoops, I goofed there -- that was supposed to say that the chief in Woodway teaches or taught at Baylor, in the CJ department. I wouldn't be surprised if a CPA is required for a major; it wasn't for me for a CJ minor, though. I went through Woodway's academy as a photographer for their department for an internship credit.

[tiviti]

Thanks for the information everyone. At the time I attended Baylor, I had not even heard of CPA or I would have applied then. I suppose as soon as I scrounge up some recommendations, I will start applying now.