Daleville DPS preparing for fifth junior academy

Firing range safety, a law enforcement career and making good personal choices are among the topics on the agenda as the Daleville Department of Public Safety prepares to hold its Fifth Annual Junior Police Academy.

Set for July 6 through July 16 for youth between the ages of 13 to 17 the academy provides an opportunity to learn about the role of first responders from first responders for the fifth consecutive year.

The 70-hour course is designed to introduce youth to the inside operations of emergency first responders during a two-week intensive training program.

The program this year is under the direction of the DPS School Resource Officers Ryan Phillips and Michael Kiley, said Daleville Department of Public Safety Director Chief Allen Medley.

The program is designed to engage the children in real-world scenarios and instruction on the different roles that a public safety officer takes in the community. It also allows them to get a realistic and hands on approach about how the public safety department fulfills its mission every day to keep citizens safe.

“Obviously something that I am very proud of,” Medley said, explaining that he had been part of the first academy. “I had just started as a Daleville school resource officer when we had the first junior academy.

“The first year we had 12 or13 kids. We’ve been averaging more than 20 kids for the last three or four years. It’s been something really big and something we are really proud of as a department.”

The academy is from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. each weekday. There is no cost to attend and lunches are provided for the participants. The program is offered free of charge to the attendees because of the generosity of community businesses and individuals, Medley explained.

“The participants have to do the same obstacle course that the law officers have to do to even be able to get into the police academy,” Medley said. “They learn structure, too. A lot of us have military backgrounds so we try to teach them some of that military respect. We teach them how to march, how to stand at attention, the importance of being respectful.

“Over the past few years we’ve asked the cadets what they would have like to have seen during the academy that they didn’t and we’ve tried to incorporate that,” Medley said.

Applications for the program are available at the Daleville Department of Public Safety or at the Daleville City Hall. For more information, contact the DPS at (334) 598-4442.

“The whole point is to foster a positive relationship between police and youth, something to encourage the kids to make positive life decisions,” Medley said. “I would have never have thought that first year how much the academy would have grown. It’s awesome. I hope it keeps growing.”