By William Meiners
Herald Staff Writer
[private] Nearly five dozen middle and high school students graduated from the Gratiot County Youth Police Academy last week. In what’s become a bit of a summer tradition for young people looking to learn more about the importance of policework, the students took part in several hands-on activities facilitated by various agencies.
The Alma Police Department, the Gratiot County Sherriff’s Office, the Michigan State Police (MSP), and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) all pitched in throughout the week.
“The first YPA was in 2003 with a class of about a dozen kids,” said Kendra Overla, chief of police in Alma. “The program was the first of its kind in our area and the instructors were from all area agencies. Historically speaking, we do see quite a few kids repeat the program.”
Casey Mueller, the community service officer for the Alma PD, has helped out with the Youth Police Academy for the better part of a decade.
Mueller said he knew several kids from Alma by name, but the Monday-through-Thursday event drew in others throughout Gratiot County, as well as Carson City and Mount Pleasant.
Wearing matching red shirts and gray shorts, the participants were put through physical fitness paces each morning inside the Ithaca High School gym. Ithaca Schools provided breakfast and lunch. And they received supervised training in CPR and first aid, as well as target practice with soft air guns.
One particular crowd pleaser came with the use of fatal vision goggles and field sobriety tests. “The fatal vision goggles simulate alcohol levels in your system,” Mueller said.
Even with the goggles set near the legal limit, kids could see the potential effects of alcohol in balance and reaction. As those simulated levels rose higher and higher, the goggle wearers cannot even walk a straight line.
Presentations from the DNR and MSP allowed attendees to hear straight from working professionals. Those discussions often help separate fact from television dramas and other misperceptions they might have of first responders’ work. The kids might also discover how much positive change police officers can promote in their communities.
That back-and-forth with quizzical students is not surprising to Mueller, an officer with Alma PD since 2003 who stepped in his community service role early in 2021. Often with his “partner” Blue, the Australian Labradoodle, by his side, Mueller enters schools with the specific goal of building better community relationships.
“Blue’s a big hit with the students,” Mueller told The Herald in February 2021. “Kids come up and pet the dog and ask any questions they want.”
One of Mueller’s goals when talking to children of all ages is to show that police are people first. The Youth Police Academy registrants may have a good understanding of this. The week-long training helps them to see if they are the type of people who could make for good police officers.
The 58 graduates from this year’s academy completed response cards about their four-day experiences. “Many were surprised that they could complete some of the tasks in the physical fitness tests,” Mueller said.
Perhaps that confidence gained could put many of them on the road to a career in law enforcement. In the very least, they will likely have more respect for what officers do each day in the course of their work.
“Each year officers and deputies work hard to provide the highest quality program with the most hands-on experiences possible,” Overla said. “If the kids walk away with a positive experience or just one of the attendees chooses a career as a first responder I feel it is a success.”
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