The Athens County Sheriff’s office will begin teaching residents who are interested about the on-goings and daily life in the sheriff’s office.
Though Athens County residents may have had a few encounters with the Athens County Sheriff’s Office in the past, they now have a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look into the operations of the agency.
The sheriff’s office began offering its citizens academy class earlier this month. Residents who signed up for the class will see everything from the Ohio University Police Department K9 unit at work to a tour of the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail.
The class came as a brainchild of Deputy Jim Childs and Lt. Aaron Maynard.
Childs said the class would give residents an idea of what law enforcement does on a daily basis.
“We want people to understand that (there) are resources we have access to in our county,” Childs said.
The 10 Athens residents who applied for the program — and passed a mandatory background check— will meet every Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for 10 weeks at Athens High School. Each week a different law enforcement officer or contact will teach a class.
“We’re going to have a narcotics detective come in and talk about some things they dealt with,” Childs said. “Especially meth labs and things like that.”
Other classes include visits from Ohio University Police Officers, detectives and county prosecutor Keller Blackburn, among others.
“We’ll have a tour of the regional jail,” Childs said.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="480f845c-df9d-11e4-baab-6326dce23376"}}
Childs added that the class won’t have contact with the inmates, but it will be able to walk through the jail to see how it’s set up.
Stacy Crook, the sheriff’s office Domestic Violence Advocate, will teach a class with Lt. Maynard in May about domestic violence in the county and the sheriff’s office victim assistance program.
Crook said she will have a PowerPoint presentation that will go through the signs of domestic violence.
“I want them to see that the situation, and be able to know that it is a domestic situation, and get help for those individuals,” Crook said.
The presentation will also include programs the office offers for survivors of domestic violence.
“Hopefully they take away the knowledge so they can help if need be,” Crook said.
At the end of the class, Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith will hand the participants their certificate at the graduation ceremony.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="4731a4ce-e778-11e4-b509-3b11bf82ad0f"}}
“We’ve had 100 percent support from the Sheriff on this,” Childs said.
Smith said his department’s goal is to enlighten citizens of what they do and how they do it.
“I think the more participation we have the better off we are,” Smith said.
Smith added that another goal of the class is to have residents understand what his office does, in the hopes of making them better eyes and ears for the county.
“We all think that the closer we work with the community, the more they’ll get to know the sheriff’s office,” Smith said.
@Fair3Julia
