MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Maplewood Police Department operates through community-oriented policing, with many officers who participate in teaching L.E.A.D. — Law Enforcement Against Drugs — which helps build relationships between students and officers in the elementary schools, according to a recent release from the police department. The “Future Police Academy” would be a way to continue to grow the bond between the police department and the community’s youth while the educational experience is furthered.
The Future Police Academy will help show the participants how a police department functions and serves its community on an everyday basis. It is important for the young men and women to be able to see that the job of a police officer may be different from what they may have seen on television or read on the Internet, according to the release.
The Future Police Academy is nothing new to residents of Maplewood as the police department successfully organized several programs in the early 2000s. Those experiences have helped to foster many strong relationships between Maplewood police officers and now grown adults in the community.
Some of the planned activities for the revived Future Police Academy include drill and ceremony, physical training, teamwork building and motor vehicle stops, among many other exciting activities that will be offered. The program is planning a day trip to the Essex County Police Academy to show the participants what the recruits endure to become law enforcement officers. During the week the participants will be taught to practice the discipline, compassion and teamwork that officers exhibit on a daily basis.
The Maplewood Township Police Department sincerely hopes that the Future Police Academy will continue to build stronger relationships with the community to ensure that through teamwork, the township of Maplewood becomes a better place for the youth and community as a whole.
The cost for this program will is charged and will be limited to 25 cadets. To express interest in having your child attend the program, contact patrolman Alexander Wright by email at awright@twp.maplewood.nj.us or 973-762-3400, ext.7638; or patrolman Steven Gyimoty at sgyimoty@twp.maplewood.nj.us or 973-762-3400, ext.7607, by May 1.
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