BROOKINGS – Ben Quam and Rachel Holm say going through Citizens Police Academy not only helped them understand how law enforcement does their jobs, but helped the two of them in their own careers as social workers.

The eighth annual Citizens Police Academy, hosted by the Brookings Police Department, will start at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 6, and run through May 8, said Lt. Justina Diamond, coordinator for the program.

Those interested in applying should complete an application and drop it off at the police department or e-mail it to her at jdiamond@brookingsleo.org online. Cityofbrookings.org also has a link, as well as the Brookings Police Department Facebook page, she said.

Classes range from classroom discussions to handling firearms, subjects range from learning about policy and procedure to hands-on experience at traffic stops, evidence collection and riot training.

As social workers, Quam and Holm frequently work with law enforcement on cases, but still got a few surprises when they took CPA. Holm works for the Department of Social Services, and Quam is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).

Holm took the course in 2015, then she became a reserve officer and took the course again in 2016 as part of her training hours. Quam, who went through a police academy in Minnesota and was a corrections officer in the past, also took the Brookings CPA course in 2016 as part of his reserve officer training hours.

“It was a little bit more than I thought it would be, which was good,” Quam said. “I expected to see kind of just a snapshot of all the different roles that the police do: community involvement, school resource, investigations ... but it was actually fairly in-depth: things like evidence collection, use of force, traffic stops, those types of things.”

“I think it was a little more than what I had anticipated. Even going through it two times,” Holm said. “Although the content, the structure, of the classes may have been the same, I did pick up different things my second time. It was still interesting to see the way they would show it to somebody who had never been exposed to it.”

The two liked getting in on the action.

“It wasn’t just classroom PowerPoint,” Holm said. “There was a wide variety of training styles, hands-on and so forth.”

There were instructors who were there for every class, but also guest speakers every week, Quam said.

“A lot of the officers have some good personalities, they were pretty entertaining. Funny anecdotes,” he said.

“Someone to do a tour of the jail, a K-9 demonstration, probation/parole officers ... We did live fire simunitions drill. That’s high velocity paintball. They brought in some of the officers to be the bad guys,” Quam said. They went shooting at the Outdoor Adventure Center and at the Old Armory.

Students don’t have to participate in any activity.

“It was nice to be able to see the agenda, so, say if someone wasn’t comfortable with firearms ... they could go and observe; they didn’t necessarily have to go through and shoot if they didn’t want to,” Holm said.

Classmates included some people who were thinking of a law enforcement career and “also a lot of just regular, citizen people who want to see how the police do their jobs,” Quam said.

“People got very comfortable, there were no dumb questions,” Quam said. “That’s the whole point of the Academy is to educate the public about what exactly they’re doing, so it’s not ‘we can’t talk about that’ or ‘that’s a dumb question.’ It was ‘we’ll answer to the best of our ability.’ It shapes their image with the public. Understanding what the police are doing every day helps people.”

Some things stood out for Holm and Quam.

“Their push for really wanting people to join in on a community crime watch or being active citizens. I think that was great in providing education on how to be a part of that,” Holm said.

“It was just a really nice venue to deal with officers in uniform” instead of having it be during a traffic stop or an accident, Quam said. “I think it was a good way to humanize the officers.”

One of the reasons Holm took the course “is getting that extra knowledge and having that understanding of an officer’s role and their duties, so it better helps me in my profession, knowing what their limitations are, their struggles,” she said.

Since leaving Child Protective Services, Quam said he doesn’t work with officers as much and “I wanted to maintain that connection,” he said.

That can be helpful when you’re working a case and may need to call the police department or refer clients, he said.

“It goes a lot better, instead of saying ‘we’re gonna call the police in on this,’ to say ‘we’re gonna talk to Det. Dana Rogers, we’re gonna call Lt. (Derrick) Powers.’ We’re not calling an organization, we’re calling someone I know and trust and can work with. You don’t have to spend 45 minutes on the phone explaining who you are and why you need to talk to Lt. Diamond. You’re just calling up an individual you know who can handle it,” Quam said.

That established relationship is especially helpful in intense situations, Holm added.

“Having that open communication and knowing what they can do and (them knowing) what I can do,” she said, adding, “We bounce ideas off of each other, as well.”

The two think CPA is a good way to start the conversation between law enforcement and the public, especially given the national feelings toward officers.

“I think it’s a great idea, having that opportunity for people in the community to get education,” Holm said.

“Nationwide law enforcement doesn’t have the best reputation. Things like the Citizens Academy is a good way to give some transparency to what they do,” Quam said.

“As a small town and where we are, I think Brookings does a phenomenal job as far as the services they provide, but it’s easy to let nationwide events shade what people’s perception is,” he said. “Things like this really help remind them of who they’re dealing with. This isn’t a faceless law enforcement entity, this is your local people. These are officers, these are family members, so I think it’s a good way to put a face with the people in this town and the tough jobs that they do.”

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.