2024 West County Police Citizens Academy applications open

Residents of Aberdeen, Cosmopolis, and Hoquiam have the opportunity to take part in an upcoming program to learn about the inner workings of law enforcement.

The 2024 West County Police Citizens Academy will start in 2024, and applications are open now.

The Citizen’s Academy is a fourteen-week program designed to give the residents of our communities a working knowledge of your Police Departments.  

Each week different areas of the departments are covered, including:

• • Patrol Officer Recruitment, hiring and training.
  • Police Ethics, Citizen Complaints, and internal affairs.
  • Patrol Operations and procedures. How we respond to calls…routine and emergent.
  • EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations Course)
  • K-9
  • Traffic Enforcement
  • Responding to Persons in Crisis
  • Investigations Division Overview to include discussions on Chile abuse, Gangs, Polygraph
  • Corrections
  • The courts…. (Municipal, District, Therapeutic, and Superior)
  • Special Response Teams (Crisis Response Unit or CRU, Hostage Negotiations, Fatal Accident Investigations Team, Drone teams, Domestic Violence Response Team or DART)
  • Use of Force and the “Use of Force Continuum.”
  • Firearms Training (You’ll get a day at the Police Firing Range)

In an announcement it states that the instruction is comprehensive, and residents of the three cities will have the opportunity to ask of questions during instruction.

The classes will include lectures, scenarios, demonstrations, and tours, with “hands-on” time for each student.  

Instructors include Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Cosmopolis Officers and other personnel, who will cover their individual areas of expertise.

During or following the Citizens Academy, those who participate will have the opportunity to ride with an officer for a 3-hour period. 

According to the local agencies, they are inviting residents to participate in the academy that will  be held every Tuesday night from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm starting January 16th and ending April 16th.  

In addition to Tuesday evenings, there are tentatively two Saturday classes scheduled.   

Classes will be held primarily in Hoquiam. 

The deadline to apply is December 20th, 2023, however, space is limited.  Those interested are encouraged to apply early. 

Candidates for the Citizens Academy must fill out an application that can be downloaded at www.aberdeenwa.gov under the Police Department tab and meet the following criteria:

• • Minimum age of 18 years old
  • Live in Aberdeen, Hoquiam, or Cosmopolis
  • Have no felony record, convictions for misdemeanor crimes of moral turpitude or domestic violence

The class is limited to 25 students so the sooner you apply the better opportunity you’ll have to be selected.