Civilians with a keen interest in law enforcement will have the opportunity to experience it firsthand during the Hall County Sheriff's Office Citizens Academy next week.

During the seven-week course, participants will get a hands-on demonstration of the many divisions within the sheriff's office, including crime scene investigation, canine units, dive team and detention center.

"All of our divisions get a chance to teach segments in
this, and it culminates in the last night of the academy with the SWAT team taking them down to our firing range.
The SWAT team does scenarios and then they are actually allowed to fire the weapons down there under the supervision of our training staff," Col. Jeff Strickland said.

Sheriff Steve Cronic introduced the academy in 2005. Since then, the popular program has gone on to graduate about 400 participants and has spawned an independent alumni group that stays active with the sheriff's office.

"It's been a huge success," Maj. Ramone Gilbert said.
"We've made a lot of good partnerships and a lot of good friendships and people that we now can call in the community and depend on to give us accurate information based on their experience coming through the program."

The academy meets 6-9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and each session has a different theme.

One night, the academy sets up a mock trial in a courtroom.

"We have a breach of security and they get to see how the court services officers react to protect the judge and the jurors," Strickland said.

Gilbert said participants also get to ride along with an officer in the division of their choice as part of the program.

"They actually get to ride with the officer for a 12-hour shift to be able to see what that officer encounters and how they react to it," Gilbert said. "It allows them to be there firsthand."

There is even a teen driver night where participants put on drunk goggles and operate a golf cart.

"We do traffic stops and field sobriety tests to let them know from an officer's standpoint what they deal with with a DUI driver," Gilbert said.

And an especially popular session is when the canine unit demonstrates its skills and the canines interact with the participants.

The course ends with a formal graduation ceremony.

"When they leave, they really have a good grasp of what the Hall County Sheriff's Office does and how many responsibilities we have ... and all the different special units it takes to provide quality law enforcement services," Strickland said.