Residents in this year’s Sunrise Police Academy. {City of Sunrise}
By Bruce Strom
The Sunrise Police Department offers a Community Police Academy, where interested members of the public vicariously experience what police encounter on the beat.
Residents need to take this course to become a volunteer community resource person, but you can also take it to become a better-informed citizen.
Do you receive a badge? No, but you do receive an ID card and the inside list of police codes. Volunteers don’t get paid, but they do receive sandwiches and a T-shirt. And no, you cannot pack a pistol.
We asked the policemen hosting tonight’s course: What has changed in policing over the past few decades or more? The major changes are cameras, cameras, cameras everywhere: cellphone cameras, body cameras, surveillance cameras. While many police were wary of body cameras at first, today most feel that they help them more than they hurt them. Of course, body cameras remind them they need to constantly be aware of how they are presenting themselves to the public. Today, most policemen believe that body cameras help a good cop more than they hurt them, because they shield them from improper accusations.
We went past several police interrogation rooms, and the policeman observed that these are used for witnesses as well as suspects, or people whom they want to eliminate as suspects. Some of the adult rooms have what appear to be two-way mirrors, but with cameras rolling, police are more likely to monitor the interrogation from their desks than in the adjoining room.
One interesting room was their Child/Soft Room, which has a box of cuddly plush stuffed animals and toys. The police don’t want to overwhelm a young witness any more than necessary. When clutching a stuffed animal, a young witness will be more open to questions and be less intimidated.
Sunrise Police Officer with Bruce Strom. {City of Sunrise}
Another change is the ubiquitous presence of social media everywhere. The police try to connect with the public and with the youth of the community, both in public events, where they have slides and rides for the kids, and in social media, such as: Instagram: @SunrisePoliceFL, Facebook group: City of Sunrise Police Department, and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SunrisePoliceFL.
The Sunrise Police Department also has several community activities, including the Community Police Academy:
Seniors and Lawmen Together (SALT) Council. SALT has monthly workshops on the second Tuesday at 8 AM at the police headquarters. Senior citizens are welcome and encouraged to attend. For information: please call (954) 746-3384.
Police Explorers. This program provides young men and women ages 14 to 20 with a way to decide, through firsthand experience, whether they would like to pursue a law enforcement career. For information, please call (954) 746-3370.
Kids Activities. Includes school events, community events like Shop With Cops and Candy With Cops, and community events on school breaks and major holidays with free kids’ rides, slides, and activities.
What is the dark side of public media? Our youth can see too many traumatizing things they really should not see, and can never unsee. The age limits are not well enforced online, if at all. It is just too easy to go online and watch violent acts, such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
On our first night, we toured the facilities. At their indoor shooting range, there was an old cop car on dollies so cops can practice shooting around it. The cop car had bullet holes going and coming, which emphasizes that yes, bullets can go through cop cars. Regardless of how television cops trust their vehicles to be bulletproof, sheet metal only blocks vision.
We asked what would happen if a bad guy pretended he was Morpheus in the Matrix: Could he coax a police car into a barrel roll, and then cause a huge Hollywood explosion by shooting at the gas tank? The answer was that bullets make gas tanks leak, but they will only flare up if you throw a burning rag into a gas tank with fumes.
If the cops need a bulletproof vehicle, the department has several SWAT cars, one of which any officer can borrow if they need to knock on the door of a potentially dangerous suspect. How often do they call out the SWAT cavalry for SWAT confrontations? Far less than a dozen times a year: Sunrise is not Detroit.
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