The Redmond Police Department (RPD) is starting a Citizens’ Police Academy to open doors to the community and through education, increase communications and understanding between citizens and the public safety departments serving them.

The academy is a free training and education program that will provide citizens first-hand information about how their police department, law enforcement and justice system in general really works. The intent is not to train citizens to be police officers, but to provide increased understanding of the services they provide and the tasks they face on a daily basis.

The academy will be informative, interactive and entertaining with instruction on a variety of topics ranging from crime prevention, patrol procedures, traffic enforcement, accident investigation, child abuse investigations, emergency preparedness, hostage negotiations, SWAT and K9.

The fall Citizens’ Academy will be held at the RPD training room at 8701 160th Ave. N.E. The 10 weekly classes will be held Wednesdays from 6-9 p.m. and will begin Sept. 12.

For more information, contact RPD Crime Prevention Officer Michael Dowd at (425) 556-2683 or mdowd@redmond.gov.