Chief Invites Missoulians to Citizen Law Enforcement Academy

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Law enforcement is at the top of many headlines, both locally and nationally, but here is your chance to learn about the inner workings of the Missoula Police Department from Missoula’s Chief of Police, Mike Colyer.

“The Citizen Law Enforcement Academy is open for registration online,” began Chief Colyer. “We take about 30 to 35 people every year, and we limit the number just because of the activities that we offer because it's better to have a limited number. It runs every Wednesday night for nine weeks, and it begins the first Wednesday in January.”

Police Chief Colyer Invites Participation in the Citizen Law Enforcement Academy

Colyer said the Citizen Law Enforcement Academy will take participants through a wide range of activities.

“We wrap up with about a half a day to two-thirds of the day in early March, on a Saturday, where we do some kind of more involved things, such as our use of force simulators and demonstrations with our with our police dogs, and some crime scene kind of practicals.”

Chief Colyer Wants the Public to Understand the Role of Police in the Community

Chief Colyer wants the community to know as much about the police department as possible, to better understand its role in the Missoula community.

“All of this stuff is boiling back down to the most important thing we have, which is community trust,” he said. “For somebody who doesn't interact much with the police, they might be forming opinions about what they hear on social media, what they hear from news outlets and the rumor mill and so on, so it is an opportunity for us to speak directly to people about what we do and why we do it and how we do it.”

Chief Colyer makes a special effort to appeal only to those who are serious about the academy to apply.

READ MORE: Missoula News - Crime Reports

Colyer Asks that Only Those Serious About Attending Apply for the Academy

“If you go to our website, there's a registration link there, and it's really defined as an application because not everybody that registers gets to gets to participate because we do have limited space,” he said. “What we don't want is for somebody to sign up and miss a whole bunch of sessions when there's somebody else who couldn't be there, who would have been happy to be in attendance.”

Click here to apply for the Citizens Law Enforcement Academy.