HAMPTON, Va. –
Residents of the neighborhood known as "The Landings at Langley" are taking advantage of their unique relationship with the 633rd Security Forces Squadron. The Citizens' Police Academy, a comprehensive, eight-week course covering various areas of law enforcement training, tactics and topics recently began under the watchful eye of 633rd SFS defenders.
Tech. Sgt. Chris Beavers, 633rd SFS noncommissioned officer in charge of community policing, is the linchpin of these efforts.
"This class is designed to target residents in the local community in order to increase law enforcement awareness, clarify suspicions and misconceptions, and increase rapport between (security forces) and the community through education," said Beavers.
Lt. Col. Scott Foley, 633rd SFS commander, said the goal of the CPA is to educate Langley citizens about the structure and activities of their security forces.
"The CPA class is not a 'training' class, but is an exciting 'information' class, a behind-the-scenes look at security forces. The goal is to have informed and educated residents who will be more supportive of security forces and police officers and with hope, take a vested interest in keeping their own neighborhoods and communities safe and secure," said Foley.
The classes will cover a myriad of topics, to include an introduction to Virginia Law, security forces tactics and equipment, officer safety, emergency response, investigations and much more. Beavers also plans to give all the participants a tour of the 633rd SFS facilities on Langley.
Training will start in the classroom with a few slide presentations, but will also include some exciting demonstrations as well. Beavers said they will show the proper use of pepper sprays and tasers, and there will even be some hands-on training with various weapons. He said another of his goals is to get all of the 633rd SFS personnel as involved as possible, even if it's only to volunteer for the taser demonstration.
"One of my troops, Staff Sgt. Justin Olson, has built a great relationship with the residents. He gets out there and interacts with the kids and the community so much. They just love him out there," Beavers said. "It's great too, because I hear about all kinds of issues before they become problems."
The students in the CPA are all residents from the Landings community; active-duty military, civilians, spouses and dependants. There is no set age requirement, but parents had to cautiously evaluate their children's maturity level before letting them sign up. Beavers said the youngest participant is a 14-year-old who has a keen interest in going into a career in law enforcement.
Heather Boyer, a military dependent living at "The Landings," started a neighborhood watch program nearly two years ago after a few concerned residents voiced their concerns. She felt a neighborhood watch would help keep criminal activity to a minimum, and said the support and involvement from security forces has been fantastic.
"I think it's a great program," said Boyer, referring to the CPA. She added that she is looking forward to learning more about how security forces operate. "We couldn't ask for anything better."
While the CPA is a new endeavor, Beavers said there are already some great community efforts already underway at "The Landings." Between Drug Abuse Resistance Education and the Stay Smart program, there are more than 200 kids in training four days a week in the neighborhood. Beavers is enthusiastically optimistic about future endeavors as well. He hopes to become more involved in Boy and Girl Scouts, sports programs and potentially even a paintball team.
"Colonel Foley has given us the freedom to think outside the box and to really make this program fantastic," Foley said. "I feel like I'm the NCOIC of fun right now."