While law enforcement officers maintain authority, they can also be gentle and kind — once you get to know them.
That’s the impression that Remington Wells, a student at St. Peters Lutheran School, said he got during the sixth annual Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Youth Academy at CERAland Park this week.
“My favorite part is how we just got to meet officers and learn what it’s like to be a cop,” the 10-year-old said.
Remington hit upon two main objectives of the academy, which began Tuesday and concluded Friday at the park off County Road 525E, Bartholomew County Sheriff Chief Deputy Maj. Chris Lane said.
One goal is to get an overview of the variety of skills law enforcement officers learn to do their jobs effectively, Lane said.
“But we also want to show that we are just people, too,” Lane said. “We want these young people to see us for who we are. Most of us have kids of our own.”
While promoting the academy, Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers said that the four-day event helps to create a legacy with young Bartholomew County residents.
The academy separates participants into two age groups. The older students, ages 10 to 13, attend all four days of the academy, while the younger children, ages 6 to 9 years old, joined the event for the final two days.
One of the first things participants learn is that law enforcement officers are here to protect them, said Gabriel Boggs. The 13-year-old home-schooled student also said he’s also learned that everybody needs to be aware of their surroundings, as well as understand basic regulations and laws.
Also known as the Sheriff’s Youth Camp, the academy was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Myers said.
“But we really wanted to have it this year because it’s so much fun,” Myers said. “And it does so much for building positive relationships with the community.”
When plans for the academy were being made in March, organizers had no idea what the regulations and guidelines regarding public events were going to be in June, Lane said. For that reason, a decision was made to limit the number of participants to about 75 youngsters ranging in age from 6 to 13.
In comparison, there have been as many as 250 youngsters enrolled in the academy at one time in previous years, he said.
“Obviously, we could have accepted many more children, but three or four months ago, we didn’t know that,” Lane said.
Although the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is in charge of the academy, supervising adults include officers from the Columbus Police Department, Indiana State Police, the Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Excise Police, Myers said.
“From the first day we started this (in 2015), we wanted a lot of other agencies to be involved in the academy,” the sheriff said. “Hopefully, the kids will have a good feeling about law enforcement when they leave here.”
Having multiple agencies participate in the academy makes the experience better for everyone involved, Lane said.
“When somebody needs law enforcement, they really don’t care what color of uniform shows up,” he said.
The academy is made possible by the administrators at each law enforcement agency that allow their officers to participate, as well as the staff at CERAland who handle registrations and give the academy the run of the park, Myers said. A good amount of the planning was handled by Lane and Caitlyn Gross, the wife of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Detective Dane Duke, he said.
The opening day weather on Tuesday was pleasant for both indoor and outdoor activities such as using go-karts to illustrate the dangers of intoxicated driving, as well as presentations on DNA evidence and fingerprinting.
But when rain and chilly temperatures settled in during midweek, organizers were forced to cancel or postpone activities such as basic water safety, fishing, an close-up look at airboats in action in the park’s lake, and a scuba demonstration at the pool by the Bartholomew County Water Rescue Recovery team.
However, the officers and the kids were laughing and whooping it up during a spirited game of dodge ball in the park’s gymnasium Wednesday.
Despite being confined to an indoor gymnasium Wednesday, “it hasn’t been a very bad day at all,” said Kolbi Stephenson, a 10-year-old student at Taylorsville Elementary School. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Myers smiled as he watched the officers and kids strengthen their bonds as they played a spirited game of dodge ball.
“Our officers and deputies are having just as much fun as the kids are,” Myers said. “And these kids will remember this for the rest of their lives.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Sponsors of the Sheriff’s Youth Academy” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Youth Academy is made possible through the sponsorship of the follow businesses, groups and individuals:
- Boyer Machine and Tool
- Beck,Rocker and Habig LLC
- Timberline Restoration
- American Legion 24
- Hutch and Kevina Schumaker
- Jesse Brand
- Jorge Morales
- Roberta Wilson
- Moose Lodge 398
- Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #89
[sc:pullout-text-end]
