After missing last year because of COVID, the Evesham Township Police Department will again host its annual junior police academy summer camp in July and August.
The day camp will cover various topics, including crime-scene investigations, active-shooter scenarios and K-9 demonstrations, to build safety awareness and a relationship with Marlton youth.
“It’s a great relationship builder; they get to know the officers on a personal basis and they get to feel comfortable with the police,” said Investigative Bureau Commander Lt. Justin Graff. “They also get to understand what police procedures are.”
This year, police personnel plan two summer sessions with a different agenda each day, and the participation of other agencies. The program is open to students from fifth to eighth grade from the Marlton area, with a limit of 20 applicants per class. The first session is from July 19 through 23 and the second from Aug. 2 through 6.
Each student is expected to attend all five days. Before jumping into the activity for the day, students will start the morning with an hour of physical training and military drills.
“We will let them do some hands-on stuff, like crime-scene processing, and let them dust things for fingerprints and try to lift fingerprints off of stuff,” Graff explained. “And (for) the active-shooter drill, we would let them participate in what a police response would be to an active shooter, so they kind of feel the adrenaline rush and understand what it’s all about.”
Agencies participating in the academy will help demonstrate different police procedures and talk to the students about their roles in law enforcement. This year, those agencies will include a composite artist from the state police, the county regional SWAT team and the fire department.
“There are some demonstrations where we show them things that they can’t be physically involved in,” Graff noted. “But, we also have team-building exercises, like the K-9 demonstration.”
Graff recalled the K-9 demonstration as a personal favorite for members. During the presentation, the canines will show their agility and ability to sniff out illegal substances.
Although the program uses the same agencies each year, there will also be attention paid to current law-enforcement trends such as cybersecurity.
“If something is going on with social media, we try to steer our curriculum to make sure that we’re teaching and giving them a taste of the most current, up-to-date situations that are going on,” Graff said.
The academy is held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and recruits are only permitted to attend one week of classes. Lunch will be provided and there is no cost for the program, but all recruits must be accepted through the application process.
Aside from their Marlton residency, those who applied for this year’s program had to have a principal or a guidance counselor write a letter of recommendation, have good academic standing, be able to participate in physical-fitness activities and have no criminal background or disciplinary problems.
The program will be held at police headquarters and outside Memorial Field. It will adhere to mask recommendations from the governor and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the end of the one-week session is a graduation ceremony where students conduct a mock military drill to show their parents or loved ones what they’ve learned, and all participants will receive a certificate, according to Graff.
“Kids who are interested in law enforcement want to attend for the reason of seeing police procedures and get a good teamwork mentality while learning the values and integrity of an officer,” Graff said. “Then some people want that structured environment where they want to learn some good basic skills.”
Besides building relationships with police, the long-term goal for the program is to see members from the junior police academy eventually become full-time Evesham officers.
For more information on the program, contact officer Josh Weiss at weissj@eveshampd.org.
