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Date: 5/23/2023
BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown Police Department will host a summer Youth Police Academy from July 24-28.
The academy will be everyday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is open to youth in grades 9-12.
The registration deadline is five days prior to the start of the program.
Registration for the program is being conducted through the Recreation Department and is open to all high school students, not just Belchertown residents.
The fee is $40 for residents and $50 for non-residents with 18 spots still open as of press time.
Those interested can sign up at tinyurl.com/yc7mvuuh.
Each student in attendance will be given a water bottle, hat and a shirt on the first day.
Police Chief Kevin Pacunas along with other Belchertown police officers will run the program.
Pacunas said the program will focus on many different areas like patrol procedures, motor vehicle crash response, crime scene investigation, evidence collection, fingerprinting, report writing, physical agility training and much more.
“The beginning of the day we do a roll call; we try to imitate what we do here. We then go over what is going to happen for the day and review what we did the day before. We will then take them outside and practice marching and do a little physical training. Not anything crazy but just a little bit so they see what it is like,” Pacunas said.
The chief added that day will be filled with multiple hand-on activities, trips to the courthouse and other town buildings and training drills to make sure the kids stay interested and invested.
Each attendee should bring a lunch and a snack each day and wear sneakers or athletic shoes.
The academy started in 2017 and has been a success each year, according to Pacunas.
He said, “We have had full classes every year and this year will probably be the same. It seems to be a very positive response and everyone seems to like it. The officers here that teach their individual topics like it, the kids like it, the parents are all happy. We have heard nothing but positive feedback from it.”
The program originally started to give area youth a closer look at the Police Department along with building a stronger relation with public safety.
Pacunas said, “The hope was to provide a positive interaction and build trust with young people with our police officers. Building stronger relationships and enhancing their knowledge their attitude towards public safety. Build trust and open the door of communication and hopefully some of these kids someday want to get into law enforcement.”
High school students looking to possibly pursue a career in law enforcement or public safety will have a good look at possible job opportunities and day to day operations.
“It gives them an overview of what our job is and gives a real good close up of what we do here. If they have any interest hopefully it pushes that interest. Recruitment these days is a lot lower than it has been in years past so hopefully it can help revive some interest in being a police officer especially in Belchertown,” Pacunas added.
More information is available at facebook.com/BelchertownPD.