Kannapolis Police Chief Terry Spry, left, and Deputy Chief Chris Hill, right, presented certificates of graduation to the tenth class of the Citizen Police Academy Monday night. Graduating were April Anthony, Tiffany Carroll, Joshua Matute, Bel Ray, Theron Smoutherson, Deonna Bobbitt, Dylan Fortson, Samantha Merchak, John Reeves, Jim Stavros, Beryl Torrence, Meaghan Wade and Salisbury Post reporter Elisabeth Strillacci.

By Elisabeth Strillacci

KANNAPOLIS — For the 10th time, members of the Kannapolis Police Citizen Police Academy received their graduation certificates at the start of the city council meeting, receiving congratulations from all council members and the city manager.

And this year, a Salisbury Post reporter was among them when we received our certificates at Monday night’s meeting.

I’ve written about almost every class in this adventure that began in March and ended at the end of May, and I say again, if anyone is remotely interested, take the class.

Not only did I learn things I can use in my job covering breaking news, but, more importantly, I gained a deeper understanding of how the law is applied and why police do the things they do. I gained 12 marvelous new friends from Kannapolis and countless new friends among those in the department.

Graduating with me were April Anthony, Tiffany Carroll, Joshua Matute, Bel Ray, Theron Smoutherson, Deonna Bobbitt, Dylan Fortson, Samantha Merchak, John Reeves, Jim Stavros, Beryl Torrence and Meaghan Wade.

The instructors, who come from all different areas of the department including records and communications or dispatch, shared their time and their expertise and their passion. They fielded questions and engaged in conversations with us, and we devoured every bit of it.

Deputy Police Chief Chris Hill takes the lead on the class with support from Chief Terry Spry, and his warmth and welcoming approach leaves you feeling at ease from the start, which is a tremendous accomplishment given that most classes start with a room full of uniformed officers, enough to make anyone at least a little nervous.

We offered our thanks to Spry and Hill for all we learned, and for the opportunity to see behind the glass, as it were. Spry said long ago that when they decided to offer the class, they wanted “to really provide as much information and connection as possible, and we knew that required more than just one day.” The tag line is “connecting law enforcement and the community” and it more than accomplishes that. We ended the class feeling a true understanding of and connection with all who taught us, and all who wear the uniform.

Our class thanked the council as well for continuing to support the program, and we all encourage everyone to consider participating in the program. Our class also came together to provide a small token of thanks to our instructors and we were thrilled with the response.

“No class has ever given us a gift, so you have set the bar high for the next classes,” said Hill. It wasn’t our goal — we simply wanted to let them know how much we enjoyed the time with them, the lessons learned and the fact that they volunteered to give up free time to spend with us. But if it puts the 10th class in the positive memory banks for them as well, we’ll take that.

I did tell Sgt. Burris that I am not giving up on getting a chance to catch him in the cruisers one day, and he said to come back and take the class again and he’d give me another chance.

I am tempted, it was that much fun. But I also have promised Fire Chief Tracy Winecoff that the Fire Department Citizen’s Academy is next on the list my list, and at least two of my classmates want to come along as well.

If any of you are in a community in Rowan that offers any type of citizen class, I strongly encourage you to take it. It makes a tremendous difference when you get an inside look at how things work. And to our towns that don’t yet offer something along these lines, I encourage the leaders to consider something like it. Give your residents a chance to gain first-hand knowledge of all the jobs that keep a community going, and build those bonds with your folks.

I’ll take every one they will let me.