TUSTIN : Police Program Serves as Eye-Opener

As the police car pulled into the driveway of the Pasadena Village Apartments, Bonnie Winchester realized why joining the Police Department’s citizen police academy made perfect sense for her.

She was with Officer Pat Welch on a ride-along Monday as part of the hands-on lessons at the academy. The ride--intended to give her a front-seat view of how officers do their job--took her close to home, too close, as she found out.

Winchester manages the 172-unit Pasadena Village Apartments, and the call she and Welch were answering came from her tenants, the parents of a missing 14-year-old girl.

“It was pretty horrifying,” Winchester said. “I said: ‘Oh my gosh, something terrible must have happened.’ I saw the family in their living room and there was this helpless look in their faces.”

As it turned out, the girl was safe and came home the next day, she said.

Winchester, 37, is one of 24 participants in the citizen police academy, a 10-week course conducted Wednesday evenings at the city police station and intended to let community members learn more about the department.

Participants--who either live or work in the city--attend free, three-hour sessions conducted by officers on such topics as police organization, law enforcement programs, citizen’s arrests, criminal investigations and the use of force in police work. The department has budgeted $2,500 for the program.

The ride-along is one of the highlights of the course, according to Detective Gordon Margulies, who helped develop the program. He said Westminster, Buena Park and Huntington Beach have similar programs.

“It’s good public relations,” Margulies said. “It’s good for the community to know how we do things and why we do things. The goal is to get the community to better understand about the police function.”

During the course, the instructors demonstrate scenarios in which the participants arrest suspects and wield unloaded weapons, Margulies said.

“We don’t expect them to go out in the community and start arresting people,” Margulies said. “This is not a training program for police work.”

But he said that by attending the course, residents should better understand police work and be more willing to help. At the very least, Margulies said, the department hopes the program will help change the way the public views officers.

Following her five-hour ride, Winchester said her opinion did change.

“I’ve learned that they are very well trained,” she said. “People should not try to take the law in their own hands. That would create more havoc. We should leave it to the professionals.”