WHAT NOW? Resources for instructors & leadership
LEADERSHIP MANUAL 1
Very Important Sign up for our leadership Briefing
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Action  Steps Visit JuniorPoliceAcademy.org Subscribe to our leadership updates for program updates, digital media, special offers, plus 2o years of insights & inspiration.
Leadership Briefing GREAT IDEAS. FAST.
• • • • • •
Ideas & Innovations for Connecting with Youth Essential Talking Points for Public Presentations Classroom Strategies Story Prompts for Leveraging Your Experience Unwritten Rules of Community Policing Clear “Take Aways�
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Program Content Review Course options In Print & Online
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Action  Steps First review our two main courses:
American Police Officer A course in character Good character as seen through the eyes of law enforcement professionals.
Connecting with Kids Designed to change the way young people perceive law enforcement in America! Available online @ JuniorPoliceAcademy.org/ideas.
Next review The Challenge, which can be used in conjunction with either course.
the Junior Police Academy GOOD CHARACTER Challenge
SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS JPA has many other resources for supplementing classroom content and special events (like guest speakers or graduation). A good place to start are the publications:
“The First Ten Minutes� & “There’s a Patch for That!� Both provide strategies for seizing your cadets’ attention and introducing young people to the often confusing framework of law enforcement in the United States. Available online @ JuniorPoliceAcademy.org/ideas.
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Who will be your cadets? Who & How Many Time to define “Cadet�? Typically the program is offered to young people in middle school. Students are referred to as cadets while in the program and are expected the meet a well-defined standard for conduct while in JPA. The decision of which grade you will target is an important one. JPA has been successfully offered in both high school and middle school settings. One strategy is to offer the program to students during their first year on a middle school campus so they can more quickly become mentors and student leaders through the remainder of middle school and throughout high school. Another strategy is to enroll both high school and middle school students (only really feasible in a summer camp setting) allowing the older cadets to be a positive role model to the younger cadets. How many? You will also need to consider the number of cadets each academy will accommodate. Typically somewhere between twenty and thirty is a good working number, consistent with the average size of a classroom. The number of instructors you will need is determined by considering the total number of cadets and factoring in the frequency and duration of your academy. An academy offered over the course of a semester, meeting for one hour, three times a week will be significantly easier to manage with a single officer than a week-long summer camp that meets for seven hours a day.
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Action  Steps Decide which grade or age group you will target for the program? _____________ How many students will you enroll? ___________
PROMOTE & ENROLL Check out JPA's promotional videos and posters at
JuniorPoliceAcademy.org/ideas. Download media and create customized promotional materials to enroll students.
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Build Enthusiasm Identity & Awareness How do you plan to recognize exceptional students, instructors or members from the community? We can help! Get into the spirit of the program with branded apparel, gear and supplies from our JPA Outfitter Shop.
Don’t find what you need? Need help getting started. Contact us. Kelly LeConte at 512-712-5564 or email at kleconte@policeusa.com.
KELLY LECONTE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
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Action  Step Visit JuniorPoliceAcademy.wazala.com. Review JPA’s collection of branded items Instructor Sport JPA embroidered 100% cotton short-sleeve knit polo. Contemporary in style. S/M/L/XL/XXL $30.00 each
Cadet T-Shirt The fastest was to a cadet’s heart is with a JPA T-Shirt.  It is also a great way for the cadets to tell the rest of the community about their involvement in the JPA Program. $10.00 each
Cadet Kit $20.00 each Outfit Cadets head to toe with the Cadet Kit, includes: Â Cadet T-shirt 3-Ring JPA Binder (for keeping daily handouts and assignments) Pencil Water Bottle Clip-on Retractable Badge Holder
Graduation Certificate  $2.50 each Beautiful embossed graduation certificates are available, signed by our leadership and customized with your cadets name.
Place an order. (Our logo is also available if you wish to print shirts locally.)
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Who will instruct? Teacher Tips All great programs require great leaders. JPA is no exception. Do you have the right person to lead your program? The success or failure of your program will depend on finding an individual with not only the skills, but the time to make it all happen. The Junior Police Academy stands on the shoulders of exceptional law enforcement officers at the local level – individuals who bear witness to the power of stepping beyond what is required. The most fertile ground for reaching young people lies just beyond that next mile. It takes extra effort, but it is the magic zone where everything communicates a simple, yet powerful message: “I am here because I care and because you are important to this community.” Making that connection does require a police officer to ease into the position of classroom instructor. JPA requires police officers who can make the adjustment from the street to the classroom and have a general understanding of how to interact with kids over a sustained period of time. Like everything else, practice makes perfect, and perfecting your classroom skills takes time.
“JPA leaders are first and foremost public safety officers. Teaching young people is a whole different skills set. Our national office works hard to ease officers into the challenges of teaching.” KELLY LECONTE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
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Action  Step Visit JuniorPoliceAcademy.org/ideas
Select: Video / Leadership Forum Junior Police Academy leaders share their insights into how to connect and be effective in the classroom.
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Create a program schedule. Teacher Tips A program schedule charts your academy across a timeline – starting with Day One through graduation. There are typically two types of configurations : Classroom and Summer Camp (which includes after-school programs).
Classroom Classroom schedules use one-hour blocks of time and look like a checker board.
Summer Camp Summer Camp schedules are usually one week long, meeting for several hours at a time. Using blocks of time that vary in length, the Summer Camp schedule tends to look like swim lanes.
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Action  Steps Create your own program schedule. Using a calendar, block out your program strictly in terms of time.
Or, Try Hosting a Micro-JPA Don't let the lack of a grand design stop you from taking that first step. The primary objective of the Junior Police Academy is to put kids and cops together. Your time with young people may, by necessity, be infrequent or unfunded.  Don’t let that stop you from getting the ball rolling. Some of our best programs started with a single visit. So may yours. One way to get started is to meet with students to discuss a recent local event involving public safety. (Events will always conspire to put law enforcement center stage.  Was there a recent shooting in the news, traffic fatality, incident involving bullying? Each is a potential opportunity to open up a dialog and meet with students.) You may find this exchange the start of something more formal and frequent.
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Establish Procedures Rules & forms Code of Conduct You will want to establish strict, unwavering rules of conduct for your cadets. The Junior Police Academy draws upon, at least in spirit, the experience of attending an actual police academy. As with an actual academy, you will need to articulate and enforce rules governing cadet conduct. Setting a higher standard of ethics and integrity for cadets can itself become a learning experience. Just as a higher standard is required of police officers, so too will it be required of cadets. Best advice: Be consistent with your enforcement of the rules.
The Expectation of Structure Make no mistake, a more regimented approach and strict adherence to “rules” is part of the program’s trappings and appeal. The very name of the program sets up an expectation of order most cadets expect and will enthusiastically support. From day one, set the atmosphere for the program – a code of conduct that maintains decorum and insures safety. Many of the Junior Police Academy programs supervise the cadets as if they were actually in police academy training. While not all aspects of a police academy can or should be duplicated, setting a standard for conduct is essential. Many times you will find that the students expect some of the trappings of an academy or boot camp -- inspections, proper attire and official ways of addressing each other.
Legal Matters Most departments and school districts will insist that participating cadets have written permission from their parent or guardian along with a liability release form. JPA provides sample release forms that can be modified to your local requirements.
Screen Cadet Applicants One of the most important steps in developing a program is the process by which you select recruits. It is vitally important that you establish a written criteria by which Cadets will be selected. (If you have to deny an applicant admission, be sure that your criteria is applied consistently to everyone -- and in writing.)
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Action  Steps Visit JuniorPoliceAcademy.org/ideas SELECT TEXT TEMPLATES Download our library of generic text forms (including student enrollment applications, code of conduct agreements and parental permission forms) and customized to your program.
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community impact Sample Press release Program Summery New Course Explores Good Character Through the Eyes of American Law Enforcement The Junior Police Academy, a nationwide youth program, is pleased to announce the launch of American Police Officer, a new course in character education. Taught in middle school by school resource officers, American Police Officer recognizes that police officers are uniquely qualified not only to teach, but also to inspire good character in our youth. “To truly inspire good character, you have to put kids in the room with it,” said Phillip LeConte, JPA Executive Director. “Over the past twenty years, the Junior Police Academy has been doing just that – proactively bringing young people and law enforcement professionals together.” Styled after an actual police academy, the course explores the meaning and consequences of good character as seen through the eyes of law enforcement professionals – teaching students both the skills and the virtues needed to be informed and productive citizens. Good Character Detectives To pass the course, students must take the “JPA Good Character Challenge” – a project which requires students to seek-out people from their community who exemplify the course’s seven core good character traits: Justice, Diligence, Courage, Generosity, Integrity, Enthusiasm and Wisdom. “While the course provides students a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse into good character against the momentous backdrop of law enforcement; we end with the Challenge, revealing these traits at work in the students’ own life,” added LeConte, who authored the course. National Effort Nearly 600 police departments have requested American Police Officer, which is being distributed this year from JPA’s national headquarters in Austin, Texas. Starting this fall, several cities are serving as pilot programs for American Police Officer, including Austin, Texas, Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Oblong, Illinois. The course is free to police departments and schools. Now in its 20th year, the Junior Police Academy often marks the start of a young person actively assuming their lifelong role as informed citizens, extending the program's true impact far into the future.
Online Media Kit: http://policeusa.minus.com/mPresskit/1g
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Action  Steps PROGRAM SUMMERY Write a summery of your prosed program. Get everyone on the same page with a brief outline of what you propose. This outline will evolve, but it always helps to start with a proposal. What are your objectives in hosting a youth program? Provide some details as to what you hope to accomplish. Think about the question from several perspectives: What I hope to accomplish with youth? ...with parent and members of the community? ...with the local media? ...within my own department? ...with regard to other public safety agencies in your area?
Think in terms of outcomes. If it helps, imagine the final day of your program. Who is there? Your cadets of course, but who else? Parents? The media? Other agencies that participated? Even if your academy has no culminating event, you should still consider what impact you hope for. What do the cadets, parents, and members of the community know now that they did not know before.
As no one likes to start with a blank page, start with the text we have provided in the form of a press release (adjacent page). Download editable text document at JuniorPoliceAcademy.org/ideas
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Manual could not have been written—indeed, the Junior Police Academy would not exist—without the generosity of our donors. To respect their privacy, we withhold their names, but we hope they understand the depth of our appreciation. We work everyday to justify the confidence all our donors have shown in us and in our mission.
Chief Rick Armstrong of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department Lisa Garcia, Director of Student Services, Kansas City Public Schools Finally, we acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our Advisory Council, past and present:
Special  Thanks
Sgt Robert Goetz, Everett Police Department Officer Mitchell Garcia: Houston Police Department, Texas Officer James Adams: Hanford Police Department, California Officer John Clapp: formerly with White Settlement Police Department, Texas Officer James Taylor: Goshen Township Police Department, Ohio Officer Mark Dillon: Retired, Hanford Police Department, California Captain Tom Long: Retired, Herkimer Police Department, New York
Special thanks go to Chief Tom Clemons, Seward, Alaska, for his inspiration and support.
Deputy Cory Hughston: former Crime Prevention Specialist, Victoria County Sheriff's Office, Texas
Chief Pat Fuller (former Chief of the AISD Police Department, Austin, Texas) for not only shepherded this program, but allowing us to have some fun in the process.
The late Edward J. Cain, Jr., Associate Professor, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, who, like the Northern Star, provided guidance – helped me take an idea and turn it into something that shines.
Officer Suzanne D’Ambrose, Monmouth County VocTech School, Freehold, New Jersey, for her insights, dedication & indispensable energy.
And to Robert LeConte, to whom this program is lovingly dedicated.
John Schneiter
You have all enriched this program. To each of you, our heartfelt thanks.
We also benefit mightily from the time and dedication of countless volunteers and staff, including: Kelly LeConte, Program Director David Dierks, Chief of Staff June Mellon, Program Coordinator Paul Kutak, Accounting Greg Bolin Donna Wade
Patricia Lyle, Retired Principal of Lamar Middle School, Austin, Texas Officer Rick Jennings, Pequannock Community Policing Assistant Chief Terry Zeigler of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department Dr. Cynthia Lane, Superintendent of the Kansas City Public Schools Officer Steve Williams of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department
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