NRCC News

NRCC students have opportunity to participate in Montgomery County Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy

Jun 05 2019

This is an archived article!

This article was published on Jun 05 2019 and was archived on Jun 06 2020. The information below may be outdated or inaccurate.

Six New River Community College students recently completed the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy as class credit. Cody Hardwick, Wesley Hedrick, Adam Otey, Cody Sellors, Christian Shinn and Aaron Walters participated in the 10-week academy as a two-credit elective.

“My sincere appreciation and thanks go to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office for providing this opportunity for my students,” said Dennis DuBuc, NRCC associate professor for administration of justice. “I appreciate that this group of law enforcement professionals chose to provide leadership and training for my students, along with valuable experience.”

The Citizen’s Academy gives participants the opportunity to experience conditions similar to training the deputies receive and shows deputies’ daily operational duties. The NRCC police science students said they were interested in using the Academy as their supervised study because of the real-world experience it would give them outside of the classroom.

“I thought it’d be cool to get some hands on experience from local officers,” said Hardwick.

“Our professor said it would give us a good inside look at what actually goes on inside a police agency,” said Hedrick.

Academy participants learn about divisions and functions including crime scene investigation, evidence, patrol, shooting range, corrections, K9, SWAT, civil process, court security, and enforcement of criminal and traffic laws.

“My favorite part of the academy was probably getting to do the ride along or when we got to go to the gun range,” Walters said.

Hedrick said he enjoyed the SWAT portion because he has interest in that for his future so it was very informative. Hardwick also said the SWAT portion of the academy was his favorite.

“My favorite part was being able to get an inside look at how the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office works,” said Otey.

Hardwick, Hedrick, Otey and Walters agreed that this experience reinforced what they learned in the classroom but taught them new things as well. They said this opportunity gave them the chance to see the application of the law, talk with current deputies and learn directly about the area, which is helpful because several are planning to stay in the area for their careers.

“It is my hope that these young men will be able to use this experience to the benefit of the people in the communities they will serve when they join the ranks of law enforcement professionals," said DuBuc.