Last week, we told you about a traffic education action by LAPD’s Wilshire Division Community-Police Advisory Board, and noted that joining the C-PAB is a great way to get involved with local community safety issues. Today, we bring you two more LAPD-sponsored community volunteer opportunities, the Community Police Academy…and the LAPD Volunteer Patrol
COMMUNITY POLICE ACADEMY
On August 14, 2019, the latest session of LAPD Operations-West Bureau’s Community Police Academy will begin. According to LAPD, the Academy curriculum and teaching methods are similar to the traditional police academy, and are “designed to give community members an overview of the Los Angeles Police Department’s policies and procedures.” Also, “through the Community Police Academy, enrolled students will be encouraged to volunteer at their local police station and build a lasting partnership with the Department. Doing so will greatly contribute to our ultimate goal of reducing crime and improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods.”
The eleven-week course will be held at Fox Towers, 2121 Avenue of the Stars, 90067. Classes will meet each Wednesday evening from 6-9 p.m., and the session concludes with a graduation ceremony. And people who successfully complete the class will be eligible to participate in the Volunteer Patrol Program (see below).
To participate in the Academy training, you must:
• Be 18 years or older
• Live or work within the Operations-West Bureau boundaries
• Have no prior felony convictions
• Have no outstanding warrants
• Have no pending criminal cases
• Be approved by an Area Commanding Officer
If you’re interested, contact Sergeant Scott Alpert at [email protected], or 310-444-0743, or Senior Lead Officer Chris Baker at [email protected] or 310-444-0740.
And if you’re ready to sign up, the application package is here.
LAPD VOLUNTEER PATROL
One of the things that completing the Community Police Academy training, above, will qualify you for is participation in LAPD’s Volunteer Patrol. According to LAPD, Volunteer Patrol members do not engage in law enforcement action, and do not carry guns…but they do provide extra eyes and ears on the street, and help free up police officers to focus on specific crimes. And right now, says LAPD, “Chief Michel Moore has announced he wants to recruit 5,000 additional volunteers to work at least eight hours a month.”
Patrol volunteers “range from college students to people in their eighties,” says an LAPD notice about the program. “While many are retired, some work full time and volunteer in their spare time.”
For more information, see the recent article in the LA Times about the program, which says volunteer duties have recently “expanded from basic patrols to undercover surveillance and operating bike and horse units in the San Fernando Valley, and walking the beat with officers on Hollywood Boulevard.” In short, the volunteers patrol their neighborhoods in many ways, and use phones and radios to report information directly to LAPD officers.
If you’d like to learn more, contact the LAPD Wilshire Community Relations Office at 213 473-0200.
