Class links citizens with township force

Levittown -

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP - As the 27 participants in the township's first Citizen Police Academy prepare for graduation, police say the course has been a valuable and engaging tool to educate the public about the day-to-day duties of police officers and basic law enforcement procedures.

The 10-week, one-night-a-week course covered such topics as criminal law, motor vehicle law, motor vehicle accident investigation, arrest, search and seizure and domestic violence.

Representatives from groups such as Providence House, Burlington County Central Communications and Emergency Management also spoke to the class. Participants were often so engaged that they stayed beyond the class' three-hour allotment, according to the program director, Sgt. David Brintzinghoffer.

"It's amazing that they're there either ahead of time or on time each night," Public Safety Director Walter Corter said. "They don't get any credits, but every night it's gone beyond the scheduled allotment of time because conversations continued."

Corter said the class was composed of a good cross-section of residents.

"We have some young people, middle-age people, and the oldest is 69, so we have a good diversity of age representation of the community there," he said.

The program is an effort to reinforce the relationship between the police and community and also to create personal relationships.

"We've always had a strong partnership with our community, and we just saw it as a benefit that we could strengthen that partnership and also to allow people to know the real difficulties that a law enforcement officer goes through, day in and day out," Corter said. "It allows for transparency. They know there's no hidden agenda and it allows them to interact with the officers and have that human-touch element."

The majority of the township officers were active in one way or another in teaching the course.

"When these 27 graduates go on, they'll have a personal contact and I encourage that. ... If you have a question down the road or something you don't agree with, pick up the phone and call the officers that you've met here," Corter said.

Brintzinghoffer said the course helped to dispel some common misconceptions about police work.

"I think it's great for them to see what we have to experience and what it takes to officially run a department," he said.

"That's what a lot of the misconceptions were. They would call us for an incident and may feel it wasn't handled properly. Once they listen to the rules and regulations and case law we have to abide by, they have a better understanding of it."

Corter said the course emphasized how officers make on-the-spot decisions.

"It's very easy to Monday-morning-quarterback decisions that are made in a split second, and we wanted our community to experience what officers go through to make some of those difficult decisions. + And it's not what you see on television," he said. "We can't solve crimes in an hour's time or half-hour time frame."

Brintzinghoffer said similar programs in Riverside and Mount Holly were helpful in providing ideas to build on for the course.

Mayor Stephen George and Corter said the township plans to continue to offer the course as long as there's an interest.

"We're trying to make sure everybody understands what the police department does. The Neighborhood Watch groups that are out there, we try to have them interface with the police department, too," George said. "They're the eyes and ears of the police department in the neighborhood, and if they see anything wrong, they're supposed to call their formal watch groups inside the various neighborhoods and they do help out."

Brintzinghoffer said the course also helped strengthen ties with Neighborhood Watch groups.

"There were several people in the Neighborhood Watches that were in the class," he said. "Some of them I communicate with via e-mail directly now. If they hear something in the neighborhood, they e-mail me and they learn that if it looks suspicious or acts suspicious, call the police."

The next Citizen Police Academy course will be advertised in the spring in the Burlington County Times and information will be posted on the township police's Web site. It also will be advertised in the school district's Falcon Flyer electronic newsletter, which reaches 4,000 households.

The graduation will be held Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. in the municipal building.

Contact: dmaccar@phillyBurbs.com or 609-871-8068

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