Summit Police Youth Academy Concludes Tenth Season

submitted by the City of Summit

Friday August 1 marked the conclusion of the tenth season of the Summit Police Department’s Youth Academy, an increasingly popular program designed to provide area youth with the opportunity to gain an understanding of the role of the police officer.

In all, 45 cadets graduated from the 2014 Youth Academy’s July and August sessions in ceremonies attended by family members, Summit’s Police Chief Robert Weck and various council members.

Ranging in age from 11 to 14, the cadets experience the same types of drills and physical training that the men and women receive in today’s police academies.

In addition to receiving overviews of criminal investigations, evidence recovery and patrol tactics, the cadets are provided with hands on scenario training in which they process crime scenes, conduct high risk motor vehicle stops and even have an opportunity to experience some of the difficulties of emergency vehicle operation by driving golf carts alongside their instructor.

During their visit to the John H. Stamler Police Academy in Scotch Plains the cadets utilize the same obstacle course used by police recruits, receive unarmed defense instruction and undergo firearms simulator training which demonstrates the split-second decisions that police officers must frequently make.

The cadets also attend demonstrations from various specialized units that are available to law enforcement, such as the Union County K-9 Unit, SWAT team, Bomb Squad and the Summit Fire Department.

Summit Police Chief Robert Weck commented that “the mission of the Summit Police Youth Academy is to familiarize our area youth with the role of the police officer and provide them the opportunity to learn respect for the law, personal responsibility and the importance of teamwork, all through positive interaction with local police officers and exposure to the challenges of responsibility of police work.

We believe that we are accomplishing this year after year and are extremely proud of our graduates as well as the officers involved with the program. This year twenty of our graduates participated in Summit’s National Night Out Against Crime where they proudly wore their uniforms and demonstrated the drills they had learned.”

Specifically, Chief Weck thanked Detective Sergeant Rick Proctor, the Academy’s Program Director, Police Officer Gerald McDermott, lead instructor, Police Officers Leland Griffin, Paulo Santos, Charlie Daly and John Brunetto, Academy Secretary Pamela Ferreira, and former Youth Academy graduates Danielle Crosson, Will Zagorski, Jocelyn Mendez and Angelis Rivas who assisted the Academy instructors.

The Summit Police Youth Academy is grateful to the John H. Stamler Police Academy, the Summit Fire Department and the Union County specialized units for their assistance.

Also, a very special thank you goes to the Grand Summit Hotel for providing transportation to the Police Academy each and every year since the Youth Academy’s inception, as well as the Canoe Brook Country Club for the use of their golf carts in the Evasive Driving test.

ORDER OF GRADUATION - JULY 18, 2014

Cadet name

1 WILLIAM BERMEL

2 KATHRYN CHANG

3 GRIFFITH DISABATO

4 SAUL TAMBONERO

5 KATELIN HANNIGAN

6 MICHAEL MALNATI

7 DAVID PARELLA

8 KIANA YIP

9 SEAN PURCE

10 TYLER KIDD

11WILLIAM ZIPF

12 HENRY VELOSO

13 JOHN CROSSEN

14 EMILY TRIMINO

15 BRIAN UGALDE

16 THEO HODGES

17 TYLER WRIGHT

18 JOE PURCE III

19 COLIN KIDD

20 DANIEL CAMBRONERO

21 SAM MALNATI

22 NICHOLAS FRANK

23 THOMAS JOHANSEN

24 SCOTT O’CONNELL

25 JOHN SPITZNAGEL

ORDER OF GRADUATION - August 1, 2014

Cadet name

1 JUAN CARLOS BOLANOS

2 MEGAN CHANG

3 CHRISTIAN CADMUS

4 JAMES RODRIGUEZ

5 MICHAEL BONOMO

6 JULISSA LOPEZ

7 SCOTT COHEN

8 ROBERT WOHL

9 CAMDEN FESSLER

10 SYDNEY ROJAS

11 KELLYN AMOZOQUENO

12 COLE BALDWIN

13 JOSE MORALES

14 JACK CHASIN

15 ANNA MAKEDONSKA

16 CAMILA HOWARD

17 ETHAN SCHWALL

GRADUATED BUT NOT PRESENT:

DANIEL CAMPOS

HUNTER CANTONE

NICHOLAS ESPOSITO