Police academy for youth and teens is back, with limited spots | Local news

Teenagers and young people will have the opportunity to interact with Santa Maria police officers, learn more about the police department and get their questions answered during a week-long “Police Academy” this summer.

The Teen & Youth Police Academy provides an essential overview of police operations, hands-on training, live demonstrations and more.

“This is a great opportunity for parents who want to provide an education for their children, or for children who are interested in this profession and want to get a better insight into the daily work of police officers,” said Sergeant Felix Diaz of the Santa Maria Police Department. “They can come to the police department and ask the officers any questions they want.”

To manage them effectively, the department has set a cap of 35 students per academy. While the youth academy is full, there are still six spots available in the teen academy, according to Diaz.

According to Diaz, the department kept the academy going until COVID brought everything to a halt.

“So this is something we want to restart in the community to continue to engage our youth and teenagers,” he said.

The Teen Academy, for high school students in their first through last year, is open from 9 a.m. to noon July 15 through July 19. The Youth Academy, for students in fifth through eighth grades, is open from 9 a.m. to noon July 29 through August 2.

The academy program begins with an overview of general topics such as police uniforms and patrol cars. At the end of the first day, the young cadets will also be introduced to police dogs, Diaz said.

The next day, the focus shifts to the drone program, traffic units, basic weapons safety, and the department’s scouts and cadets.

“We also take a tour of the police academy, where our officers first completed their training to become police officers,” he said. “We talk about detectives and their tasks, we talk about the crime lab. A lot of it is about personal contact with the young people and the officers.”

Since this is the first year the program has been running since 2019, Diaz said they hope to continue it as an annual summer program and possibly open a winter academy as well.

“Depending on how people like it and what the feedback is, we will try to bring out more of it in the future, for example during the Christmas holidays,” he said.

To reserve a place in the Academy, send an email to [email protected].

April Chavez is the Santa Maria City Reporter for the Santa Maria Times. If you have information or a story idea you’d like to share, email her at [email protected].