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Future police officers train to protect, connect

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena Community College students Kalynne Smith, left, and Haley Spalding discuss their future law enforcement careers on Thursday at the college.

ALPENA ― The future of law enforcement beams bright-eyed, full of hope, and eager to get to work, if students in Alpena Community College’s criminal justice program offer any indication.

As they prepare to serve as police officers and conservation officers, crime scene investigators and forensic scientists, the program’s students train for a career in which job security seems certain but community support has seemingly waned in recent years.

Knowing the distrust they may face on the job but determined to protect their community with integrity, students expressed eagerness to put into practice the intricacies of criminal justice learned in the classroom.

“I’m more excited than anything,” said student Kalynne Smith. “I just want to have my job already, even though I don’t know where I’ll go or what job I’ll end up getting.”

BACK TO THE BASICS

A recent facelift to the school’s criminal justice program included the installation of Program Director Robert Mills upon the June retirement of former director Larry Thomson.

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With a decorated, 30-year background in military policing, including a stint on an anti-terorism team in Saudi Arabia and, most recently, serving as mission support chief at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, Mills now uses his experience to prepare students to start service careers of their own.

Upon arriving at ACC, Mills wanted to know what weaknesses local police agencies saw in potential employees.

The basics, local police leaders told him.

Following their advice, Mills tweaked the program to steer students to classes in basic writing and communications ― skills police need in preparing reports and engaging in interactions with the public.

Students accustomed to digital communication don’t understand why they have to handwrite papers for him, Mills said.

Details on a handwritten police report can make the difference between a conviction and dismissed charges, he tells them.

A basic communications class refocuses digital-native students on skills needed to interact face-to-face with a public not always ready to trust them, the instructor said.

In recent years, local and national police agencies have struggled to fill open positions because too few prospective officers apply. As a generation of officers reach retirement age and leave the force, few others choose to enter the profession, possibly because of increased social scrutiny, police leaders say.

Police nationwide have faced criticism following global protests over the killing of unarmed Black men by police. Some progressives have called for defunding local police agencies, though it isn’t clear that movement has any real traction: In Minneapolis — scene of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, which sparked the global Black Lives Matter protests — voters earlier this month rejected a major police reform measure.

MORE WOMEN ON THE FORCE

ACC students Smith, 18, and Haley Spalding, 19, both nearing completion of associate degrees and headed toward law enforcement careers, said communities need to be able to trust their officers will keep them safe.

Smith cited the recent suspicious deaths of two Alpena women ― Brynn Bills and Abby Hill, whose bodies police found after separate searches earlier this fall — as evidence that Northeast Michigan needs an effective and trustworthy police presence as much as larger cities with higher violent crime rates.

Women have comprised more than half of students enrolled in the ACC criminal justice program for the past five years, compared to 30% a decade ago, officials say.

As two among that surging number, Smith and Spalding hope an infusion of women into the police force will strengthen connections between officers and their communities.

Check out the interactive graphic below showing enrollment in Alpena Community College’s criminal justice program. Story continues below graphic.

Female police officers have to be tough enough to do the job, but they can also offer a comforting, non-threatening aspect that could ease tensions in confrontations, they said, encouraging other young women to consider law enforcement careers.

‘STILL PART OF THEIR COMMUNITY’

Hours spent in dim classrooms absorbing lectures about courts and reports and rules let students glimpse the non-glamorous side of policing that many people never see, Smith said.

Police officers have to be smart, reliable, and dedicated to their work, she said ― traits students see in the local officers who visit their classrooms and describe the busy life of a Northeast Michigan police officer.

“Even if there’s time off, they’re still in their community,” Smith said. “Still worrying about their community, still part of their community.”

Videos and classroom lessons have taught them that cops must guard their honesty scrupulously, Spalding said.

Smith, who hopes to someday analyze crime scene evidence and investigate cold cases, believes she and her classmates can earn and keep public trust as they convert classroom lessons ― even the basics of writing and listening ― into respectful and tactful interactions.

Contemplating a future as a Michigan Department of Natural Resources officer, Spalding compared police to a blanket, providing a sense of security to the community they vow to serve, no matter the level of trust they receive.

Captivated by police shows and true crime podcasts, both young women know true police work takes time, lacks glamour, and can prove thankless.

“I think it will be worth it,” Smith said. “There’s only so much you can do. Why not just help with what you can?”

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