Citizen's Police Academy graduation

Participants of the fourth Nevada Citizen's Police Academy class and representatives of the Nevada Police Department pose for a photograph during a graduation ceremony held in the city council chambers of the public safety building at 120 S. Ash Street on Oct. 30. Seated ,left to right: David Bishop, Beverly Baker, Bobbie Thornton, Patricia Arnold and Diane Krall. Standing, left to right, Courtney Bennett, Capt. Casey Crain, Tonia Bowman, Florence Randell, Dorthy McCoy, George McCartney, Evadna Robb-Park, Inn Park, James Norris, Robert Selsor Jr., Linda Breeden, Sammie Breeden, Stephen Arnold, Tim Jorden, Vickie Jorden, Chief Graham Burnley and Det. Sgt. Steve Bastow. Not pictured: Casey Campbell and Tiffany Stroer.

The Nevada Police Department has announced the graduation of 21 participants in the fourth Citizen's Police Academy training course conducted by the department. A short graduation ceremony was held in the public safety building at 120 S. Ash St. on Oct. 30, where participants received certificates, T-shirts and refreshments.

Program coordinator Sgt. Steve Bastow said this class was very good and there was a lot of interaction between students and presenters. "They asked a lot of questions," he said. According to Bastow, two of the 21 students have been, or will be, seeking employment in law enforcement. We had outstanding participation in this class and good discussion on topics presented to the class. Everyone seemed interested in the overall program and its contents, he said.

Class members said portions of the class that stood out to them were the interactive traffic stop, interactive crime scene investigation, domestic violence, drug recognition, animal control and sex offender segments of training. Presenters Det. Sgt. Steve Bastow, officer Brian Hansen, Detective Jens Barclay, Martha Sander, Officer Lukas Gibson, animal control officer Ben Douglas and Sgt. Jeff Baker all made their presentations interesting and informative.

Student Diane Krall said, "I thoroughly enjoyed" the course. And just like past students, Krall especially enjoyed the interactive traffic stop and crime scene investigation segments most. She said she also liked getting to know some of the people in the local law enforcement community. Krall went on to say that "This academy can only be an asset for the citizens of Vernon County."

Bastow said the police department asked the class to prepare an evaluation of the program and make suggestions for changes or improvements to the course. He said all of the classes appeared to be successful and the suggestions provided will be considered for next year's academy.

Bastow also said, "the Nevada Police Department intends on providing this course until demand from citizens slows or stops. This is an excellent way for the citizens and the officers to interact and learn from each other and build an avenue of communications between our citizens and our police department."

This has been a very successful program and I look forward to future academies. Krall said, "I encourage everyone to participate in this" and get to know more about law enforcement in our community.