The University at Buffalo Police Department continued to encourage proper safety measures and education to the public as it completed its second Citizen Police Academy session on March 31.
This seven-week long program, which includes one patrol car ride-along, offers Buffalo area citizens the opportunity to learn from professionals with specialized training and years of experience at no charge.
"For the people that attend [the Citizen Police Academy], we expose what we do, how we train, what we can do, what we can't do, what is legal and what is not legal," said UPD Lt. Dave Urbanek.
Urbanek serves as the coordinator of the program and also leads most of the course, acting as a guide to its participants.
University at Buffalo police chief Gerald W. Schoenle, Jr. presented diplomas at the academy's graduation ceremony.
"It is important for us to teach members of the community what we do on a daily basis," Schoenle said. "It gives the participants the opportunity to understand policing at a university level."
Within this course, education was given to participants on fire and first aid situations, the emergency dispatch system, New York State penal law, patrol procedures, traffic and accident investigations, recruiting and training procedures, the Criminal Investigation Bureau, crime scene investigations, family offenses and domestic violence, sexual offenses, alcohol issues, narcotics and hazmat incidents.
One of the 16 participants that participated in the last session, Anna Sotelo-Peryea, resource and planning coordinator and violence prevention specialist at UB, was pleasantly surprised by what she got out of the Citizen Police Academy and felt it enlightened her on what, exactly, the UPD does and consists of.
"I had no idea how many specialized units they have within the police department," Sotelo-Peryea said. "I also thought it was kind of interesting how diverse [all of the officers'] backgrounds were."
Sotelo-Peryea, who decided to enroll in the academy because of curiosity and her close work connections with UPD officers, felt the academy couldn't have run much smoother and covered so much material that it didn't have much room for improvement.
"We learned defensive tactics, got experience on different maneuvers, learned what weapons were legal and which were illegal, when to shoot and when not to shoot," she said. "I enjoyed [the program] the way it was," she said.
The remaining 15 participants from the Buffalo area that recently graduated from the program include David Stall, Jenna Ward, Amie Schirching, Bradley Curthoys, Ryan Standish, Carol Adler, Joe Paulter, Mike Rockey, Jeanette Detraglia, Benjamin Abel, Patrick Hoar, Rachel Brown, Bethany Torres, Marjory Jaeger and Jaclyn Russello.
"It's a good experience," Urbanek said. "If people want to know what we do and why we do it, they should sign up for the next [course], which will probably happen next February."
Those interested in attending future sessions should contact Lt. Dave Urbanek at 716-645-2227.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
