Graduates now police advocates
Published 2:00 pm Thursday, October 6, 2016
Prince Edward County Supervisor Pattie Cooper-Jones is one of 11 graduates of the first Farmville Advanced Citizens Police Academy. In this course and two previous ones, Cooper-Jones learned to know and respect the men and women behind the badge in the Farmville Police Department (FPD), according to a press release.
“This training makes you realize the serious job our police have,” she said.
FPD Detective Chris Moss coordinates the Citizens Academy as well as the department’s other community relations programs.
“We want citizens to know what the police department does,” Moss said. “We had so many requests that we decided to hold an advanced academy.”
In the six-session advanced course, the class is presented with a crime scene with actors playing the role of victim, witnesses and suspect.
“The class interviews suspects and witnesses and processes the crime scene,” Moss said.
“We even arrested a suspect and took him to jail,” Cooper-Jones added.
The Citizens Academy, Moss explained, takes a serious case and follows it from beginning to end. The class concludes with a mock trial complete with circuit court judge, prosecutor from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and a local defense attorney.
“These graduates know what it’s like to do police work,” Moss said. “They are our best advocates.”
Cooper-Jones concurred.
“This training gives you the tools to help,” she said. “We can go out into the community and talk about what police do. If there are negative remarks, we can say that doesn’t happen here — not in our police department!”