Last July, the Voorhees Township Police Department held its first-ever Voorhees Junior Police Academy, and now one year later, it’s time for round two.
Due to what police officials describe as “great feedback” from the Voorhees community and VTPD officers, the department recently announced the return of its Voorhees Junior Police Academy from July 20–24.
The program will once again offer Voorhees residents between the ages of 12–16 with an interest in law enforcement a chance to learn about the daily duties of VTPD officers, as well as some of the broader aspects of law.
Lt. Dennis Ober said the idea for the academy originally arose from the department receiving inquires from the public asking whether it had some sort of junior police program.
“A lot of kids will approach us and ask ‘what’s the academy like,’ and everybody always has these preconceived notions of what the police academy is like … this gives them an idea,” Ober said.
Throughout the five-day program, police will choose 15 to 20 “cadets” to report to the Voorhees Township Police Station every day from 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m. or 2 p.m., during which time participants will engage in police-related activities such as physical fitness training, marching exercises, flag raising and other related ceremonies.
“We go out and do physical training, and we run and do sit ups and show them what the physical side is like,” Ober said.
Ober said the academy will also feature classroom lessons to teach the cadets that officers do much more than just drive around and write speeding tickets, as the kids might believe.
“We try to open them up to all the laws that are out there and where we get our powers from and why that is, and it’s always a Q&A session and there’s always ‘what if’ scenarios,” Ober said. “‘What if someone did this’ or ‘what if this happens,’ and we try to open it to the broad aspects of the law.”
Another popular aspect of last year’s academy that Ober said will probably return this year is the “mock traffic stop,” where the cadets themselves will act as police officers and be guided on how to conduct a traffic stop according to police procedures.
With VTPD officers roleplaying as those whose cars were stopped, Ober said there are multiple scenarios with potentially good and bad outcomes, ranging from a broken taillight to the discovery of a mock weapon or illegal substance.
“We go through the steps of what they would do, and communicate and really stress teamwork and relying on other people, and the kids really enjoyed that and I think that was probably one of the cooler things we did,” Ober said.
In addition to interest from kids, the academy has also drawn great interest from officers in the department, with some even volunteering to come in on their days off or stay on after a night shift to view the program or help in some way.
“We have even more interest now than we did last year and more people want to get involved, and I think that’s pretty neat and we’re pretty happy about that,” Ober said. “We’re preaching teamwork to the kids, and we’re getting that from our officers, too.”
When the kids and officers meet, Ober said the hope is they can learn to relate to one another, with the possibility that sometime in the future, the kids might feel comfortable coming to an officer with a problem or information.
“I think that opens up the lines of communication,” Ober said. “This shows we’re approachable.”
Ober said the desire to give back is the reason why VTPD Chief Louis Bordi wanted to ensure the program was free.
“We want to give back, not give back and charge you,” Ober said.
Voorhees Junior Police Academy applications and related forms can be found under the Bureau of Community Affairs section of the VTPD website at http://vtpd.com/bureau-of-community-affairs.
Applications must be turned in by July 1 to the Voorhees Township Police Headquarters building, 1180 White Horse Road.
Due to the limited number of spots available, not all those who turn in an application will be selected. Applicants must be residents of Voorhees.
Those interested with any questions about the program can contact VTPD Sgt. Bill Walsh at (856) 882–1104.
