A handful of DeKalb residents graduated from the DeKalb Citizens Police Academy Thursday night after participating in the ten-week program that educated them on local police activity.

DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said a few words of thanks before he and Detective Angel Reyes handed out certificates, t-shirts and coffee mugs in a small commencement ceremony held in the DeKalb City Council Chambers.

Partly as an informative seminar, partly to allow more transparency into police work, a dozen residents signed up to learn exactly what police work entails.

The academy covered a number of pertinent topics: evidence processing, community policing, K-9 demonstrations and a review of all the major investigations that have taken place in DeKalb, among others.

From the graduates

Melissa Rodriguez, a sophomore criminal justice major, said she is planning a career in law enforcement and attending the academy was a great learning experience.

“The session on gangs was the most informative,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t know we had graffiti and people associating themselves with gangs in town, then it all came together when the murder happened.”

DeKalb resident Bob Myers said the academy was outstanding and was sad to see it end.

“I’ve always been interested in police work,” he said. “Not as a profession, but I like to see what they’re up to.”

Myers said he was involved in the DeKalb County Sheriff’s auxiliary unit 10 years ago and is impressed by some of the new techniques police use to lift finger prints.

“In general, I have more respect for these police officers because I’ve met them,” Myers said.

Another graduate, Jerzy Samolis, a senior marketing major, said he learned a lot of information you don’t get from newspapers about what the local police do.

“The drug investigation unit and gang unit were the most informative,” Samolis said. “You really don’t see the drugs by yourself, the numbers, how it gets in and out. Gangs, you don’t see so much during the day, when you’re out and about.”

Samolis said after the academy, he will be more reactive than passive in the community because he is more aware and perceptive about what’s going on around him and in the community.