Murrieta Officer Earns 'Excellence In Community Service' Award

MURRIETA, CA — Murrieta Police Cpl. Matt Mozingo earned an Excellence in Community Service Award from the Law Enforcement Appreciation Committee at their annual event held at the March Air Field Museum in Riverside in late April.

The committee recognized Mozingo, and other law enforcement officers across Riverside County during the evening. Mozingo, a police officer for 27 years, who served in Murrieta for the last 19 years, was awarded for his work as the driving force behind the Citizens Academy concept, according to a statement from LEAC.

"In 2014 Corporal Mozingo brought the concept of a Citizens Academy to the Murrieta Police Department to provide a comprehensive overview of all the programs, operations, and services provided by the department to the community," the statement reads.

The initial academy was open to city employees and their families.

"Since that time the program has grown to include community members, business owners, civil rights organizations and elected officials," they wrote. "To remove any barriers to attending the academy, it is conducted with weekly classes over 12 weeks and is free of charge for the attendees. The only requirement is that the attendees either live or work within the City of Murrieta. Due to its success, the Citizens Academy has been visited by other police agencies, looking for a template to start their own academies."

The academy's content has also matured, with Corporal Mozingo actively soliciting department and non-department instructors and subject matter experts to speak with the classes.

The dialogue is educational and engaging, allowing attendees to ask questions during the classes. The academy even includes a field trip to a firearms and use a force simulator at the Ben Clark Training Center. This format helps not only enhance the academy's content and ensures that every academy is a unique experience for all attendees.

While the academy had to be put on hold during the pandemic, it was not forgotten.

"Corporal Mozingo continued to work on ways to make it better," they said. "When in-person meetings were allowed again, Corporal Mozingo restarted the academy, inviting new attendees into the police department. To date, the Citizens Academy has hosted more than 150 members from the community."

"In addition to his work with the Citizens Academy, Corporal Mozingo is currently restarting the Youth Court and Police Activities League programs, which were also inactive during the pandemic," they said.

If you want to learn more about the Murrieta Police Departments Citizens Academy, please visit www.murrietaca.gov.