Fifteen Catoosa County Citizens are now equipped to aid local police during natural disasters and investigations.
These residents recently made the cut as graduates from the Citizens Police Academy that began earlier this year as a new initiative under Sheriff Gary Sisk.
"We may recall the citizens to help on the CERT, Citizens Emergency Response Team," Sisk said in regards to the graduates. "The CERT team performs foot searches and helps during the tornado. They will be more attentive of their surroundings."
That may be in part due to some of the other aspects of the program.
"We set up a mock crime scene to show how it's investigated," Sisk said.
Capt. Shane Fann said the whole idea is to get citizens behind the scenes.
"We want to build a relationship with them," he said, referring to the citizens in the academy. "We want to get more info to solve more crimes. We want to help them form a Neighborhood Watch. They teach about warrants and civil services. They talk about how to keep kids away from drugs and alcohol."
Odell and Wanda Garrett took the Catoosa County Citizens Police Academy classes together.
"I wanted to learn something about the county and I wanted to learn about the Sheriff's Department," Odell Garrett said. "I was a reserve police officer before. The Sheriff's Department is up to date in a lot of things. They have to do much more than I thought. I wish a lot more people would go through this process."
Wanda Garrett said the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office is top notch.
"We did ride-alongs," she said. "The officers told us personal experiences they've had. I think it's a good program."
Sisk said the Sheriff's Office took citizens to the shooting range recently. He hopes to launch a firearms safety course soon.
Students also learned about laser radar and how to perform traffic stops, even performing one of their own.
"We switch the roles and the citizens play the role of officer and the officer plays the role of the bad guy," said Sisk. "We perform vehicle searches and tracks with the K-9 Unit officer and the dog. An officer puts on a bite suit. It's a big suit and an officer runs and the K-9 bites his arm or leg. The officer shows how they take the dog off the offender and take the person into custody."
The date of the next round of classes, held Tuesday nights for 10 weeks, will be announced after the first of the year, he said. To stay up to date or for more information, visit catoosacountysheriff.com/latest-news.