17 Graduate From South Brunswick Citizen Police Academy

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Seventeen South Brunswick residents graduated from the Fall 2017 South Brunswick Citizen Police Academy.

The graduates are: Susan Boguszewicz, Umesh Chavan, Martin Coffey, Bimal Dhami, Lourdes Guerrero, Janice Hutchinson, Matthew Hutchinson, Poornima Kamath, Brittany Kelly, Angie Latif, Joanne Marciniak, Ivana Pareja, Stephen Peters, Mahalakshmi Ramamurthy, Vijayshri Rao, Susan Santowasso and Sandy Sperber.

This is the sixth class to graduate since the program was restarted in 2015. Participants were instructed in a variety of police topics including criminal law, traffic enforcement, first aid, patrol tactics, and criminal investigations to name a few.

“After 10 weeks of classroom and practical exercises, this group has completed the requirements to be called graduates. The academy provided them with a unique perspective on what it takes to be an officer; from the education and training to the different types of calls," said South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka. "I believe the academy fostered a better understanding of policing for the participants and a stronger connection for the officers to the community.”

Students took part in hands-on training on how police process crime scenes from photographing to dusting for fingerprints. In the final practicals, participants took on roles as police officers and applied the knowledge they learned from the class to handle various situation.

One of the class participants, Martin Coffey said the class changed his perspective on policing.

“Meeting all the different officers made me realize they are just regular people trying to help out," he said.

Another participant Joanne Marciniak said, "I had no idea how much officers had to constantly train and learn." She said the practical exercises showed her how fast things can change in real police work and how officers have to adjust. All the participants believed it was a great experience that was well worth their time and effort.

Photos provided to Patch by South Brunswick police