You won’t learn how to shoot a gun or handcuff a suspect, but you will find out what a cop does in a squad car, thanks to the Jersey City Police.
For the third time in two years, Lt. Brian McDonough, the head of the Housing Authority police, will be holding his Citizen Police Academy starting Sept. 19 at the Hudson Gardens Community Center on Palisade Avenue across from Dickinson High School. It’s a chance, he says, to introduce people to a foreign world.
“Television and books always paint a more sensational portrait of policing, whether negative or positive,” said McDonough, a 21-year veteran of the force. The reality, he said, is a force that adheres strictly to laws and policies designed to help improve neighborhoods.
McDonough has been holding classes, usually about nine weeks long, for the residents of public housing units. This time around, though, he’s looking to draw people from surrounding communities. In addition to Hudson Gardens, the nearby Hilltop Association and the Sergeant Anthony Park Association will be invited to come to the classes.
The classes consist largely of seminars on different types of police work.
Something fishy
McDonough has the years and experience behind him that leads to insight on, for instance, drug buys. “Yesterday,” he said, “I was riding through the city, and I saw a guy with a hand in his pocket.” It’s usually a tip-off that something fishy is going on. “You got your hand in pocket and you’re holding on to money like a life preserver, or you’ve got the drug and you’re holding it,” he said. He stressed that he wouldn’t stop the person or make an arrest, but would keep an eye on him.
Yet he’s quick to note that racial profiling, an issue for which state police have come under fire, is not tolerated in Jersey City.
“Look, things aren’t done on a whim,” he said.
Yet race plays a factor in some cases.
“You see a white person going into a black neighborhood,” he said. “The likelihood is they’re going there to buy drugs. But on West Side Avenue, it’s a mixed population, you don’t know who’s who.”
He cited another recent example on Bergen Avenue near Audubon Park in Greenville.
“I saw a guy digging a little hole by the base of the tree,” he said. “Adults don’t just dig holes at the base of the tree.” The man got up and exchanged money with another person. McDonough spotted the drug deal 100 feet away.
The ways of the police
The classes give people a chance to see a side of police they normally wouldn’t. And they usually come out with favorable impressions.
Said McDonough, “They’ll say, ‘Hey, you’re not all that bad.'”
Some of the highlights of the nine-week course include explaining the concept of community policing. On another week a guest speaker will talk about a day in the life of a squad car. Everyday problems like dealing with domestic disputes, picking up shoplifters, responding to emergencies and making drug arrests are discussed. Other weeks, classes will learn about traffic safety, juvenile crime and the kinds of outreach programs available. Then a guest speaker from the detectives’ unit will detail criminal investigations. There’ll also be a seminar on how to avoid scams, a narcotics class and a field trip down to headquarters to explain crime data.
McDonough expects anywhere from 20 to 40 people to come to the free classes. When this group of classes ends, he hopes to start another one Downtown in February. (The past classes were held for residents of Curries Woods and the Booker T. Washington apartments.) When finished, students will receive a certificate, and, McDonough hopes, a long-lasting connection with the police force.
“Very few people have an opportunity to speak with officers, to spend time with them,” he said. “I hope this opens their eyes and awareness in the community.”
Classes meet every Tues from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sept. 19 to Nov. 14, at the Hudson Gardens Community Center, 514 Newark Ave. For more information, call (617) 547-3760.