URBANA, Ill. – The first class of participants in the Community Police Academy will graduate following four weeks of learning about policing practices on campus.

Participants in the 12-hour class have spent the past three weeks learning about emergency dispatch, crime scene investigation, police K-9 units and traffic stops. The fourth week will conclude with talks given by representatives of the METRO SWAT unit and the University of Illinois Police Department bomb squad (including the department’s bomb-detection K9), as well as a simulation of the split-second decisions police officers have to make in potential use-of-force situations.

Graduation will happen around 8 p.m. during the class which runs from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday. Members of the news media are welcome to attend. Please contact UIPD Communications Director Patrick Wade at pwade@illinois.edu or 217-265-0028 for more specific time and location information.

The Community Police Academy was assembled this fall as a new opportunity for students, faculty and staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to participate in conversations about policing.

“This first class has been a great opportunity for us to build relationships with members of our campus community,” said Executive Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Craig Stone. “Class participants will be graduating with a new understanding of what university police do and why they do it, and our officers will be leaving with a new understanding of what our community expects of them.”

The Community Police Academy will be offered each fall and spring semester. Anyone interested in attending can apply by visiting http://go.illinois.edu/CommPoliceAcademy.