By Sydney Holtzclaw
Madison Magazine

On Tuesday night Officer Greg Dees led 25 Madison residents to his office, a "slick top" Chevy Impala parked in the Madison City Police Department's lot. "I see a lot more action as a traffic officer without a light bar attached to my car," he said to the group. Residents then began to laugh about how often they slow down for any white car that appears to be a police.

As part of the department's new program, the Citizen Police Academy, Chief of Police Larry Muncey called such an opportunity for residents and officers to communicate an endeavor towards transparency. "We want you to know how law enforcement works. I work for you and the other 42,800 residents of Madison. The police are the community and the community is the police," he said.

In order to achieve this goal, Muncey said he approached the department about looking for ways to better serve the community. "Officer Jonathan Muecke came up with the idea for the academy. He developed it and I asked him to make it happen," Muncey said.

According to Muecke the program was initiated over 20 years ago but was perfected by the Orlando Police Department during the 1980s. "I modeled our program off of Orlando's making some changes here and there to better cater towards the citizens of Madison," Muecke said.

The Citizen Academy started off with an introduction and welcome from Muecke and his fellow officers.

"We are so glad you were able to attend tonight. Our goal is to make residents more informed individuals by allowing officers and residents to communicate in an open environment. In order for that to happen we need to give you information," Muecke said.

Major Lee Weaver echoed Muecke saying, "We appreciate that you are all here tonight. You are our eyes and ears. There are a lot of things the public doesn't understand about our jobs and we're here to help with that."

After the welcome, participants gained in-depth information on what it takes to be a police officer in Madison. "The city is like a big family. We strive to employ officers who resemble that same feel," Muecke said.

Muecke then outlined the officer qualifications, which ranged from a high school diploma or equivalent education to the passing of a state standard physical fitness test. He also discussed the hiring process and training each officer undergoes before being allowed to patrol the streets.

After learning about the hiring process, Muecke and his fellow officers gave academy participants a tour of the police department and their offices, or patrol cars. Participants then spent the remainder of the session learning about the Rape Aggression and Defense program and the details of 911 Communications and Dispatching.

When asked how she found out about the academy, Amy Coelho said her neighbor told her about it. "My neighbor saw it on the city website and when she told me about it I thought, 'Why not? How often do you get to learn about the inner workings of your city's police department?' My husband and I are still new to the area and I thought it would be a great opportunity," she said.

While several participants attended the academy to gain more knowledge on their new home city, others participated due to past interest in careers involving law enforcement. "I've had a criminal justice degree hanging on my wall for the past six years, but haven't done much with it. When you have kids everything changes. I wanted to do something associated with my degree and this seemed like the perfect opportunity," Kathryn Harbur said.

Similar to Harbur, Ronnie Thomas said he participated because he once wanted to be a police officer. ""I wanted to be a police officer when I was younger. It really freaked my mom out so I chose a different route. But I've always found this line of work interesting and I thought it would be fun to participate," he said.

The next program for the Citizen Police Academy takes place on January 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. The session will focus on patrol division and animal control division operations. There are 20 residents registered for the program so far leaving five spots open.

For more information and to apply to for the academy visit http://www.madisonal.gov/index.aspx?nid=505.