{"id":9783,"date":"2026-04-01T20:50:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/?p=9783"},"modified":"2026-04-01T20:50:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:50:54","slug":"tpd-launches-first-session-of-new-citizens-police-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2026\/04\/01\/tpd-launches-first-session-of-new-citizens-police-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"TPD launches first session of new Citizen’s Police Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION<\/a>) \u2014 Pike County residents got a behind-the-scenes look at local law enforcement during week one of the\u00a0Troy Police Department<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0(TPD)\u00a0first-ever\u00a0Citizen\u2019s\u00a0Police\u00a0Academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program kicked off Thursday night with introductions to department leadership and an inside look at 911 dispatch. TPD Chief Danny Barron said the academy is designed to build stronger relationships between officers and the community through transparency and education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we build these relationships with the community, we\u2019ll have a voice through them,\u201d Barron said. \u201cThey\u2019ll [participants] be able to say that they\u2019ve met our officers and know that they are good people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley English, a Pike County resident and academy participant, said she signed up to learn more for her eight-year-old son, who dreams of becoming a police officer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen my son turned five or six, he really started getting into cops,\u201d said English. \u201cThe older he gets, the more obsessed he gets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE FOR YOU: \u2018Don\u2019t hold the door:\u2019 Campu<\/strong><\/a>s<\/strong><\/a> police give dorm safety advice<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided to jump into the academy and see what it\u2019s like behind the scenes. He\u2019s hard-set on being a cop or a professional baseball player and I\u2019ll talk with him about what I learn here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants also toured TPD\u2019s facility, getting a closer look at equipment and daily operations. During the tour, TPD Captain Matt Raiti highlighted upgrades to the departments tasers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur tasers can now shoot 45 feet,\u201d Raiti said. \u201cThey\u2019ve come a long way because they only used to be able to shoot 21 feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur tasers also now make a specific noise when someone is getting tased by a full charge. Before, when you shot it, two probes came out, and you had to judge based off the person\u2019s reaction how much of a charge they were getting hit with.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

English said her appreciation for law enforcement grew after just one session. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had respect for the police,\u201d English said. \u201cIt [the academy] gives you a greater appreciation and respect for those that get up and spend so much time away from their family.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barron said session two will focus on patrol and corrections. While applications for this academy are closed, Barron said more sessions may be offered in the future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) \u2014 Pike County residents got a behind-the-scenes look at local law enforcement during week one of the\u00a0Troy Police Department\u2019s\u00a0(TPD)\u00a0first-ever\u00a0Citizen\u2019s\u00a0Police\u00a0Academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program kicked off Thursday night with introductions to department leadership and an inside look at 911 dispatch. TPD Chief Danny Barron said the academy is designed to build stronger relationships between officers and the…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":9818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1125],"tags":[1597,2995],"topics":[1588],"class_list":["post-9783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-troy-police-department","tag-troy-police-department-citizens-academy","topics-local-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9783"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9817,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9783\/revisions\/9817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9783"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=9783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}