The Piedmont Regional Criminal Justice Academy hosted a Citizens Academy on August 12. The program focused on new laws that went into effect on July 1 and proper procedures for traffic stops.
Mayor LC Jones helped to organize the academy after “I got so many phone calls from students, from citizens who said, I just got pulled over. What am I supposed to do.”
The community has had several concerns about media and police relations over the last couple of months, partially spawned by an altercation between Star News’ Charles Roark and a police officer which also urged Jones to work on the class.
Ben Rea, director of the academy, “did the instruction on everything and prepared everything,” Jones said. Rea siphoned down dozens of hours of the curriculum into bite-sized pieces that were easy for participants to understand.
“I think it was effective to explain to them how law enforcement needs to do certain things and ask for certain things during a traffic stop,” Jones said. This included reactions like keeping your hand visible when dealing with an officer.
“We went over the new laws. It seems like the best parts were the traffic stop and community policing parts,” said Rea, who added that many attending the class already knew the basics of many police-community interactions. “There was a lot of folks that truly knew a lot of this.”
“To say that there were a lot of things they didn’t know, there was very little,” said Rea, who praised the class for the day. “We had 10 folks that came to the class, but more that signed up.”
“The information they got was the exact same information that police officers get,” said Jones. The class was so successful that Jones said he wants “to try my best to communicate and get information out to the community to offer the class to more individuals.”
Rea and Jones are currently in talks about the best way to provide the academy and further safety training.
“We are hoping to have another one,” Rea said, adding the hours for the next event are likely change to the afternoon or on the weekend to give those interested a better chance at attending. “I will offer it if folks want to come down one day and say look, ‘we have questions about things like driving under the influence. What should we do if we see something? Should we report it?’”
He invites residents to contact him if they need advice on community policing in the area.
Jones added that Epic Health Partners helped provide lunch and information about mental health and crisis situations.
