Those near the Evesham municipal building in the last week might have gotten a glimpse at 20 of the Evesham Police Department’s newest “recruits” — all of them ages 11 to 14.
This month marks the fourth year for the Evesham Police Department’s Junior Police Academy, where officers give students a five-day tour of the world of law enforcement.
The academy covers topics from the history of policing, to DWI enforcement, to crime scene investigation to firearms safety to fields trips to organizations that police interact with on a daily basis such as the Evesham Fire Department and Burlington County Central Communications center where 911 calls are answered.
“This is not a scared straight program,” said Evesham Police Lt. Ronald Ritter, who organizes the academy. “These are all good kids who are interested in the law enforcement field.”
To that point, Ritter said there was so much interest from students this year that for the first time the department decided to run two separate classes across two weeks with 20 students each.
“Within three weeks of putting the advertisement out I had 15 applications, which is really unheard of because the application process is an eight page application where they have to get a reference and they have to get a sponsor, so it isn’t something where they can just fill out one page and hand it in,” Ritter said.
Typical days at the academy begin with students suited up in their official Junior Police Academy outfits and participating in military drills and physical fitness exercises, before then heading off to cover each day’s multiple topics.
One morning outside the municipal building students even spent a few hours going through mock car stops and traffic studies where students acted as the officers giving routine commands to substitute motorists and writing accident reports.
Officer Christine Schmidt took students through a car stop where they approached mock motorists, got their information and issued violations.
The mock motorists, who were played by high school aged students from the department’s police explorer program, ranged from cooperative to outright belligerent.
“You give her the ticket and you say ‘there’s a number on the ticket, you can contest it in court,’” Schmidt told the students.
For another scenario, Officer Michael Trampe had students participate in a high risk traffic stop where they stood behind the open doors of a police car with plastic guns drawn while yelling orders at a distance for a suspect to exit a vehicle with their hands in the air.
“You know how sometimes when you get real excited you can’t think of everything that’s going on? That’s why you do it one command at a time,” Trampe said as he instructed the students. “Come out of the car with your hands up, slowly turn around, stop, and walk backwards.”
In another area Officer Matthew Divito took groups of students through a scenario where a driver hit a parked car, and Divito explained the amount of paperwork that comes with such an incident.
“Remember, 144 boxes and you can’t mess up, and it has to be neat,” Divito told the students. “You fill these out every time….once you get good it takes you about half hour. New guys, sometimes it takes them an hour and a half to do this report.”
Once students reach the final day of the academy and have completed their lessons, they’re rewarded with a graduation ceremony in front of their family and friends in the municipal courtroom.
Due to the high number of applications to this year’s academy, Ritter said he already has another five on the waiting list for next summer.
“We want everybody to get a chance to do it.” Ritter said.
