Published: January 27, 2007 12:33 am            

Making the community better

There has been a lot of recent talk in the community about the Clinton Police Department, starting with discussions about the future of the department’s facilities, leading into a discussion about an officer filing a civil lawsuit against the city regarding a promotion and this week’s focus on the working conditions as a whole after the officer’s union went to the city’s Internal Operations Committee regarding its lack of confidence in management.

And yet something significant has been somewhat lost in the shuffle of those important events. The 14th Clinton Citizen Police Academy class has its first meeting Feb. 8, and the CPA Alumni group has elected its officers for the coming year. Those developments serve as a reminder to the importance of police protection in Clinton and any community. This is not to ignore the very real concerns the department is dealing with at present, but to call for people to in some cases look past individual personalities and consider what the department offers the citizens and how residents can help make officers’ jobs easier.

The CPA was created in 1995 when former Clinton Police Chief Gene Beinke identified a need to improve existing community and police relations. Beinke enlisted the help of officer Brian Guy, now the police chief, to create the academy.

The goal of the CPA is to develop positive relations and to create better understanding and communications between the citizens of Clinton and their police department through education; to create a growing nucleus of responsible, well-informed citizens who have the potential of influencing public opinion about police practices and services.

The hope is that citizens will gain an appreciation of the problems and challenges facing law enforcement and have an opportunity to offer comments and ideas regarding solutions. Topics presented include traffic law and stops, dignitary protection, operating while intoxicated, street crime and narcotics, jail tour, evidence, special investigations and court procedures.

That the class is in its 14th incarnation and still drawing a good deal of interest is testament to its importance. That the alumni organization also is going strong is evidence that the people who have participated in the economy took the main message to heart: Police protection improves with increased communication and understanding on both sides of the table.

The alumni routinely help officers with the current class, usually by providing refreshments or assisting with presentations. The group also helps with things like National Night Out, the law enforcement field’s primary one-day public relations event. The group also helped purchase the speed trailer that gets moved around town in an effort to keep drivers and pedestrians safe.

We’re glad the department — in conjunction with Clinton National Bank and Clinton Community College — continues to sponsor the academy, and that its graduates continue to offer support. We fully believe the community is better off for having the academy, and hope to see it continue to flourish.

        

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