Largest Group of Junior Police Academy Recruits Graduates

As Anthony Stefanelli, Junior Police Academy company commander, put it, the program is not a five-day hang out to get kids off the streets but rather a great learning experience.

About four dozen teen recruits marked their completion of the Junior Police Academy last week with a graduation ceremony where parents were invited to witness the recruits receive their certificates and watch a video which showcased highlights of the week’s activities.

The program, which is a combined effort of the and the school district, is led by Sgt. Joe Rinke and Michael Stillman, an educator at the .  Modeled after the real police academy, the teens are presented with a real hands-on experience of what police life is like, Rinke and Stillman told Patch last week when the program began.

Speakers were brought in to address the kids on various police activities from self defense, SWAT tactics, drugs, guns, jail and basic gun training, Stefanelli told the audience during the graduation ceremony.

The recruits also witnessed a simulated motor vehicle stop, processing a crime scene, handcuffing techniques.  The recruits played roles such as company commander and squad leaders to make the experience as real as possible for the teens, Stillman explained. It’s also a way to dispel the myth about police work which TV may create, he added.

“All of you had just a taste of what it means to be a police officer,” Mayor Rose Heck told the recruits during the ceremony. “It was a wonderful opportunity and you all stood up to the occasion and we are all very proud of you.”

Councilman David Gonzalez told the recruits, “Looking out at all of you I see a future of possibly hopefully police officers or FBI, county or the U.S. Marshalls. You are our future and we will need you down the road to take care of us. And take care of the kids that are going to follow in your footsteps.”

This was the 12th recruit class of the Junior Police Academy and one of the biggest they have had to date, Police Chief Michael Colaneri told the audience. He told the recruits the hopes they really got a good taste of what law enforcement is like and hopes they will take what they learned with them.

Colaneri told the audience that when the department first looked into starting the academy for juniors they were told by other police departments in the area of which they consulted that it probably could not be done in Hasbrouck Heights. He said that only made him want to do it even more and in fact Heights offers one of the best Junior Police Academy programs because they collaborate with the school system.

In fact the very first Junior Police Academy which Hasbrouck Heights hosted inspired a young man to pursue law enforcement as a career and today he is a member of the Heights police department, Colaneri told the audience.