Shrewsbury Police offers a Youth Police Academy
By Heather Dubois Contributing Writer

On July 17, guest officer Steven Cortis of the Worcester Police K9 Unit and his dog Brie demonstrate how they work together. The dog is a Belgian Malanois, trained to aggressively search and track; she is used primarily for drugs.

Shrewsbury - The Shrewsbury Police Department held a Youth Police Academy the week of July 16. Officer Mark Hester, who is the High School resource officer, ran a five-day session for 10 middle school students.

The purpose of the academy was to expose young people who are interested in a career in law enforcement to some of the work actually performed by local police officers. The classes were taught by officers from the department and covered a variety of police work, including patrol procedures, criminal law, constitutional law, crime scene investigations, drug investigations and defensive tactics.

This was the second academy offered by the department this summer. A group of high school students attended during the last week of June.

Upon completion of the academy, each student was offered a ride-along with a Shrewsbury patrol officer.