SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Almost two dozen civilians spent the past 10 weeks learning from local police officers.
Twenty three residents graduated the South Brunswick Citizen Police Academy on May 10 during a ceremony at the South Brunswick Senior Center: Vivian Tudela, Rajakumaresan Thiagarajan, Vikas Agarwal, Samuel Meola, Shannon DiMonda, James Mitchell, Gaurav Chowdhry, Robin Braswell, Sandeep Bhaala, Nilesh Ghubade, Jason Stonkus, James Mulroy, Todd Slager, Imtiyaz Ubharay, Tyler Clark, Ashish Sethi, Ethan Goldstein, Dominick Fiorello, Roberta Eng, John Kastanis, Uttaran Chakrabarti, Subir Dutta and Christopher Olivacce.
The program offered a behind-the-scenes look at policing, taught by South Brunswick police officers, according to information provided by the South Brunswick Police Department.
Participants were instructed in a variety of police topics, including criminal law, traffic enforcement, first aid, patrol tactics and criminal investigations. The students were given hands-on training on how police process crime scenes from photographing to dusting for prints. The students sat in a driving simulator and received firsthand perspective on emergency and pursuit driving. The class culminated with participants being placed in roles as police officers and applied the knowledge they learned from the class to handle the situations.
“This was a great opportunity to expand our partnership with the community. We provided the graduates with a better understanding of what we do. The response to this program has been overwhelming with many of the participants saying they never appreciated all it takes to be an officer. The academy offered a perspective and openness that is the key to our agency’s success. At the end of the 10 weeks, we have residents that know us better, and officers who know residents better,” Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said. “I want to thank the graduates for giving up 10 weeks of their time to get a better understanding of what our police department is all about.”
Thus far, 47 students have completed the Citizen Police Academy since it was restarted last fall.
