Graduates Reflect on Citizen's Police Academy in Old Saybrook, Conn.

OLD SAYRBOOK, Conn. - On a sunny afternoon, graduates along with their family and friends and members of the Police Commission and Board of Selectmen gathered at the Saybrook Point Pavilion to celebrate the commencement of a ten-week long Citizen's Police Academy class.

The academy allowed students to understand the different aspects of a police officer's job and how the Old Saybrook Police Department works.

For James Schneider, a 16-year veteran of the Stamford Police Department, the class enabled him to get a clearer understanding of the inner-workings of the police department that serves his new hometown.

After receiving early retirement, Schneider said he moved to Old Saybrook attracted to its status as a small community on the shoreline.

Stamford has an estimated population of 120,000 while Old Saybrook has a year round population of 10,500.

Schneider came from a police department with almost 300 officers while Old Saybrook's department has 21 officers.

"I met with some of the (Old Saybrook) officers and they were very professional in how they stopped people," Schneider said.

All of the students in the academy participated in "ride-alongs" where they sat in a police cruiser with an officer who told the student information about the equipment in the vehicle, conducted motor vehicle stops, and performed periodic security checks of key places in town.

The experience allowed students to see motor vehicle stops from a different point of view, learned how officers conduct background checks on vehicles and drivers, and learned how officers determine whether to issue warnings or tickets to violators.

Commending the officers for their honesty in answering students questions, Schneider said that the "department seems to be close-knit and they are all on the same page."

For Stephen Hackett and Tom Koski, two Lyme-Old Lyme High School students, the academy was part of their high school project in studying the daily life of a police officer.