Youth Police Academy Gives View of Law Enforcement Training

CREST HAVEN — “Good is the enemy of excellence,” said Cape May Police Academy Director Gary Schaffer as he addressed the 2008 Youth Police Academy recruits at the Cape May County Public Safety Training Center.
Character building was a key emphasis instilled in the sixteen recruits ages 11-13 that participated in the week- long academy hosted by Ocean City Police Department’s Community Policing unit. The academy was the vision of Ocean City’s new Police Chief Chad Callahan whose key focus as chief involves more community policing and interaction with the public.
Schaffer, Patrolman Randels, Patrolman Reichanet, Patrolman Cusack and Lt. John Werley (ret.) talked to the recruits about the importance of respect, discipline and honor, core values in law enforcement they hoped the recruits would continue even if they did not find there way to a career in law enforcement.
Schaffer, a 25-year-veteran of the Ocean City Police Department and graduate of the FBI Academy expects nothing less then “excellence” from his recruits right down to the correct spelling on reports.
The youth recruits received a small sampling of the 800 hours of training that police trainees receive in the 22-week long academy. That training includes physical training, activities with the traffic safety unit and detective bureau and demonstrations by the County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit and county SWAT team.
R.J. Hoffman 13 of Mays Landing participated in the Academy while vacationing in Ocean City where he hoped one day to be part of the Beach Patrol, but now after his experience in the academy he is rethinking his future carrier plans.
“This is very interesting we get to learn about everything they do”. “I am defiantly interested in some type of law enforcement carrier” said Hoffman just after fatally shooting a man that approached Hoffman with a knife that failed to comply with his orders to “drop the weapon” in the academy’s state of the are FATS firearm simulator.
Patrolman Randels hopes to hold an academy next year “This has been a great experience for us and the kids are having a great time,” said Randels
The academy was held through Aug. 22, when graduation was held.