Last week, three members of our staff took part in the first class of the Citizens Police Academy, which is organized by the LaGrange Police Department.

The academy is a 10-week course that includes riding with a patrol officer, learning the ins and outs of the police department, shoot/don’t shoot training and crime scene processing, among other topics.

The classes give an overview of the department and make it easier for us on the outside to understand procedures and how things are supposed to be handled.

Our staff felt it was important to participate since we work with the police department on a lot of stories.

The better we understand the police department, the better we can serve our readers.

The class meets every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. and they generally last two hours. This week’s class was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma, so if there’s anyone that would still like to join, there may be spots available. Officer Jim Davison, a community outreach officer, can be reached at (706) 883-2644.

We’re thankful the police department provides this opportunity for people in Troup County to see the ins and outs on how it operates. Transparency is important when building trust and the and through the academy, the police department is making it obvious that it wants to build and maintain a great relationship with the community it serves.

We look forward to the rest of the classes and learning more about the local police department.