Citizen’s Police Academy Reflection Essays Example

One of the most interesting facts that I learned from the academy was how patrolling worked. Before the academy, I was under the assumption that police officers randomly drove around neighbors to look for suspects and other criminal before. However, now I see that there is a define set of protocols that the officers are following when it comes to patrolling neighborhoods. For instance, there is a proactive and reactive approach when it comes to patrolling neighborhoods. Proactive is when the police officers are patrolling the neighborhood themselves to see if they can find any laws being broken or suspects on the run. On the other hand, reactive is when the police are called by the 911 dispatcher for a crime in progress. I also didn’t know that when it came to patrolling that cops had to do certain services to citizens as well. I was under the impression that the officers only drove around to find criminals and crimes in progress, but patrol cops are obligated to preventative actions as well as services to the general public. Preventative actions are when a cop checks up on a business that has been targeted for a past crime or watching out for businesses in high crimes areas. This also helps them search for any suspects who may be hiding and helps promote visibility so criminals will not target the business. When it comes to services, this entails that the patrol cops are helping people find their way who are lost, providing educational programs on what they do, and even helping motorists if a traffic light has gone out or if they were an accident on the roads. There are also three basic patrol patterns which are circling a neighborhood, double checking an area, and driving a random route. Another interesting thing from the patrol unit I learned is the advantages of the three different types of patrolling. The three forms of patrolling are foot patrol, bicycle patrol, and car patrol. The advantages of foot patrolling are that they can development informants within the area, can move better through congested areas, and develop a close relationship with the people of the community. This bond can make the citizen mores likely to relay information about illegal activity that may be happening in the neighborhood. As for bicycle patrolling, these officers can go where patrol cars can’t and can form an interaction with the community as well. This form of patrolling is healthier, less cost-efficient, and allows the officer to use all five of their senses when it comes to detecting a crime. The benefit of patrol cars allows for a faster response time, cover a larger area, has improved communications, and allows for the officer to carry special equipment if it is needed. To go along with the patrolling unit, the felony motor vehicle stops were interesting to learn about the specific procedures to go through when pulling over a suspected criminal.
I only knew so little about the procedures it took to pull over a felony vehicle which all came from watching television shows and movies. I knew that the first thing you do was to radio in you’re in pursuit of a suspected criminal and then start chasing the car down. As exciting as it is on television, there are procedures that the officers must face when it comes to dealing with the reality of a police crash. After radioing that they are in pursuit of a suspect, officers have to have their car in a specific position when chasing the criminal. The police car has to be three cars lengths behind the suspected criminal, off-center, and wheels have to be fully turned to the left when it comes to first pursuing them. Headlights and high beams come next so the criminal knows that they are being pursued by the police. Most of the time this will cause the criminal to pull over and that is when extreme caution takes place. If the officer suspects that he is in a dangerous position, then he should draw his gun but keep it away from the suspect and radio in for backup. It is important that the officer keeps their eyes on the suspect(s) in the vehicle at all times. When the backup officer arrives, they are there to provide cover in case something goes wrong. They also have their gun drawn in case the suspect has any weapons on them as they are getting out of the car. Depending on the severity of the crime, there may be more officers to come and investigate as well as divert or block off traffic away from the scene. There are a myriad of orders that the officer gives the suspect verbally that I was unaware of. I only knew about keeping their hands behind their back and putting their hands on the front of the car to be searched. A few orders are for the suspect to kick open the door with their foot so their hands are visible at all times, exist the vehicle while facing the officers, remove the keys from the ignition with his left hand while his right hand is still visible for the officers, and to throw the keys out of the window. In these types of situations, it is best for the officer to keep away from the suspect until thy have been thoroughly searched for any types of weapons. This saves the officer from receiving any type of harm as well as keeps the suspect from being shot at by the officer. However, if the suspect fails or refuses to follow the orders that the officer is giving then they can approach the suspect and use force to get them on the ground. This usually requires two officers in case of the suspect having a weapon and is trying to attack.
During this academy, I learned various things on how to deal with suspects, the rules of patrolling, and well as how to pull over a suspected felony vehicle. Some more memorable moments were the K9 demonstrations as well as a lecture on how the narcotics operations work. The CPR training was insightful as well even though I already had my CPR license. Not only did the course offer me information on what police have to go through and how they protect themselves in dangerous situations, but it even broke down simple things that anyone could use to be safe. For example, one slide broke down the statistic of crimes that have happened within the past few years. It also provided a map to show where the most amount of attacks, ambushes, happens as well as where the least of them happen. Until now, I was not aware of the many dangers and procedures that officers had to go through when it came to their job. I believe that the most interesting tidbit to learn was the acronym of how officers handcuff people: I can’t have six more tacos. Despite the funny name, it stands for immobilize, control, handcuff, search, monitor, and transport. That one will stick with me always simple because of how it was taught.