After Michael Perlman was laid off from his job, he turned to the contacts he made in the Evanston Police Department during his time in the Citizen Police Academy.
Perlman had worked in publishing, not law enforcement. But the recent police retiree said the city’s academy program helped him land a job as a police dispatcher.
After graduating from the program in 1996, Perlman has remained involved with the Citizen Police Academy as an alumnus. He stressed the program’s influence on community relations.
“I’ve found it’s a two-way street – the police gain as much as the citizens do,” said the 62-year-old Eighth Ward resident. “I remember once, an officer was reticent about the ride-along; he felt it was his squad car, his beat and that a civilian would get in the way. After a few ride-alongs, though, he gladly offered to take more.”
EPD created the Citizen Police Academy in 1995 as part of an effort to correct common misconceptions about the way the police force works. It has since graduated 587 residents. The free 12-week course covers everything from filing to crime-scene investigation to a ride-along with a police officer. The program, offered twice a year, admits only 25 people per session.
The small classes draw retirees, concerned parents and aspiring police officers. Graduates take their lessons back to the community, which program directors said strengthens police-citizen relations and helps create a safer community.
“A lot of graduates become block captains and form relationships with the officers,” said Evanston Crime Prevention Specialist Kerry Demski, 43. “They have the information to form groups and they’ve worked with officers. It’s a huge benefit to the community.”
Other graduates go on to volunteer within the community or police department and, like Perlman, some even become police department employees. In Evanston, volunteers take on community projects and assist at events, such as the annual holiday basket program, community picnics and the National Night Out event.
Alden Cohen, 73, a Ninth Ward resident, said he used the program as a springboard for community involvement. Also a retiree, Cohen signed up for the academy to meet a requirement to join the Community Emergency Response Team, a branch of Homeland Security and FEMA.
“When the program first started, it was unheard of,” Cohen said. “People wondered why the police department would put so much time and energy to train citizens who would never do anything extraordinary with the training.” Cohen now volunteers 1,000 hours each year in EPD’s Property Department, doing everything from cataloging the property found on criminals at the time of arrest to taking care of abandoned bicycles.
“People join for different reasons,” Demski said. “Some have had positive or negative experiences with the police, and it allows them to see the inside workings of the police department – why police do things the way that they do.”
The next academy session begins March 6.
Reach Kayleigh Roberts at [email protected].
