By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Region – The Police Departments from the towns of Northborough, Westborough and Southborough recently collaborated on their second annual Boro’s Junior Police Academy which was held at the Robert E. Melican Middle School in Northborough July 29 through Aug. 2. Twenty-two teens participated.
The program was open to teens ages 12-16 from the Northborough, Southborough and Westborough as an offshoot of a program that began in Southborough 19 years ago under the direction of Southborough Police Officer Kevin Landry, who also serves as the town’s school resource officer.
“We used to call it the Southborough Junior Police Academy,” Landry explained. “We run the academy in a paramilitary manner and we expect a lot from the kids. We expect them to be respectful but also have a lot of fun.”
The Academy’s itinerary included morning drills, classroom instruction on a variety of topics, a drone demonstration, and a session on Tasers – complete with a real life demonstration. Officer Mike Bisset from Northborough volunteered to be tasered. He told participants that the pain only lasted only about five seconds but it was really intense.
Other elements of the Academy were a gun range with air soft guns, a session on defensive tactics and crime scene investigation, a visit from Northborough paramedics, a demonstration from Westborough Officer Caleb Polseno and his K-9 partner Lucas, and a virtual reality exercise on operating a vehicle while under the influence.
“We do a lot of things that we actually do in the Police Academy during this setting, the only thing is they get it in a jam packed week instead of six months,” Landry remarked.
Long-time program volunteer Mel Kizner said he really believes in the program.
“What’s interesting is that a lot of these students become mentors and come back,” he noted. “They’ve gone through the program and now they are advisors to these kids. What’s also interesting is some of these kids have gone on to become full-time police officers.”
At the beginning of the week the participants were surveyed on their interest in law enforcement as a potential career. About half a dozen responded that they would consider it.
“It’s a fun experience to see all the cool stuff, like yesterday we got to see the SWAT team come in,” remarked Riley Brown, mentor at this year’s program.
Justin Cappuccio, fellow mentor, agreed. He added that being on the other side and watching these kids go through the program was a great experience.
The program also included games and pizza, followed by a “graduation” ceremony on the final day.
Photos/Melanie Petrucci