During the last week of August, Greece Police Department hosted one of their most loved events in the community, The Greece Police Teen Academy. This year they completed their third annual weeklong Teen Police Academy with 11 recruits. Thanks to both Town Supervisor Bill Reilich and Police Chief Pat Phelan this program provides amazing opportunities to local teens interested in learning more about law enforcement.
The program is supervised by Community Service Sergeant Jared René. “This is my favorite week of the year. Every year the program expands and gets bigger and better,” René said. The Academy is facilitated by Officer Matt Bachman, Officer Bill Murray and Officer Mark Babcock. Each day of the academy program is rich with hands on activities as well as presentations from officers and detectives, the K9 unit and the Deputy Chief. The teens participated in a variety of team building drills, live fire drills, shooting competitions as well as a range PT session including fun tire flipping drills.
One afternoon the Teen Academy participated in Reality Based Training role-playing with blanks for simulated ammo and range safety officers. According to the officers who facilitated this training, the recruits were amazing and performed very well under stress. Much of the academy is designed to provide the recruits with a reality like experience. “Often the teens arrive timid and nervous but in a matter of days they are showing confidence and improved self assurance,” René said. The team work environment with the team building drills like “trust falls” really help the teens feel cohesive and accomplished. Although the program is fairly young it creates lasting positive imprints on the participants helping them evolve their possible career paths in law enforcement.
To see more pictures of the week long Teen Police Academy or for more information visit the Greece Police Face book page.
