The Hampton Police Department is hosting its second citizen’s academy starting February 26th and running through March 27th.
The academy will provide community members with an inside look into the police department and will be taught by police officers, city staff and emergency medical staff. Hampton Public Works Director Doug Tarr will teach a class on nuisance enforcement and tells RadioOnTheGo News it’s great to have another academy in 2025.
“Looking forward again to this year, you know a lot of the information that people will obtain. You know how social media is nowadays. So honestly, a lot of people I think, think they know what the job entails pertaining to all of these things. And you’ll see a lot of false information out there on the social media and different things. So I encourage anybody that would like to learn some reality and come in and see what this is all about because it really is informative. We try to make it the most informative as possible. We try to, squelch some things where people have a perception and you know sometimes perception is just not reality.”
The five-week course is designed to give citizens an overview of the police department’s functions and operations and Hampton Police Captain Mike Halsne says they will cover a wide range of topics again this year.
“For the 2025 Citizens Academy, we really haven’t changed a whole lot of the classes because a lot of the material is still pretty relevant. But as you said, it’s gonna span over five weeks. It’s gonna go from covering technology and equipment that the police department uses and has at their disposal, to CRASE training, which is civilians response to active shooter events, nuisance enforcement, CPR, AED, search and seizure traffic stops, and a use of force simulator, which is provided down at the Ellsworth Community College.”
Classes begin February 26th at 6:00 p.m. and may last up to three hours. You can find an application online at hamptonia.us under the announcements page.
Photo taken from last year’s citizen’s academy where police captain Mike Halsne showed attendees the inside of a police vehicle.
