An arresting look at the law

Lauren Vane

In the past 12 weeks I’ve been living on the edge. I spent an evening

walking the halls of the Orange County Jail, and I held cocaine and

heroin in the palm of my hand. I witnessed a police dog in full

attack mode, and a guy held a gun in my face.

Granted, I was in the jail on a fully supervised tour led by a

sheriff’s deputy, and the drugs were in airtight bags. The gun was a

fake and the police dog was with its handler, but I still felt

dangerous. As a member of the Laguna Beach Police Department Citizen

Academy, I have been scared and shocked, and I’ve come close to

fainting in class several times. But one thing’s for sure, I was

never, ever bored.

Wednesday night, I, along with the other 24 members of the 12th

class, graduated from the 12-week program that took us all on quite a

ride through the ins and outs of law enforcement. From fingerprinting

to traffic stops, we had a close-up look at the duties of a Laguna

Beach police officer.

“I think everybody’s been absolutely blown away,” said our class

president, John Campbell.

The Citizen Academy materialized in 1999 after Sgt. Darin Lenyi

proposed the idea as part of an undergraduate research project. Lenyi

saw the need for the public to gain a better understanding of what

the Police Department actually does, aside from shooting bad guys and

writing speeding tickets.

“There’s a lot of fiction on television about police,” Lenyi said.

“It’s the type of profession that everybody out there thinks they

know everything about.”

Lenyi said people were always coming up to him and saying things

like, “Hey, why didn’t you just shoot the gun out of his hand?” or

“Did you kill anyone today?”

Activities in the Citizen Academy are intended to show the public

that there’s more to being a police officer than you think, Lenyi

said. For example, when the class spent the night at the police

shooting range, many found out how difficult it would be to shoot a

gun out of someone’s hand, or in this case, hit a stationary target.

After hearing about the idea of a citizen academy from police

officers in other departments, Lenyi thought it was a program that

could work in Laguna Beach.

“It gives people who live here a better understanding of the inner

workings of the Police Department,” Lenyi said.

Reserve Police Officer Tom Wall and Citizens on Patrol volunteer

Brent Wagner were regular presences in class, helping out Lenyi and

offering up their respective law enforcement experiences.

Wall has been giving up his Wednesday nights to work with the

Citizen Academy for about six years. Without fail, Wall always had

the right answer to the many questions posed by our inquisitive

class. When can I jaywalk? Will you really pull me over if I’m going

five miles over the speed limit?

But he’s happy to do it.

“For people that have a lot of life experience, this is an

opportunity to give back to the community,” Wall said.

Wagner, who’s been volunteering with Citizens on Patrol for two

years, was a willing stunt double during class exercises and also the

resilient recipient of countless bad jokes from Lenyi.

“Before I took this class, I didn’t really realize what police

officers get into in day-to-day work,” Wagner said.

When I signed up for the class, my reasoning was just that: to

understand what my police department really does. Initially I was

concerned about the time commitment, but then reasoned that I could

sacrifice three hours of Wednesday night TV time for the sake of

community involvement.

I soon found that there was nothing to worry about -- the classes

delivered much more entertainment than any television show could ever

provide. Forget “Law and Order” or “CSI” -- what we learned in class

was the real thing.

Capt. Danell Adams’ intriguing, brutally candid presentation about

the investigations division was a shocker. Even being the police

reporter that I am, I had to turn my eyes away from the homicide

photos she passed around the class.

“That’s something that’s not gonna leave my brain for a while,”

Campbell said of Adams’ presentation.

In another class, the group got a visit from Jimmy the police dog,

a guest from the Irvine Police Department, and saw what he would do

if someone attacked his handler. Down doggie. A police officer posing

as a bad guy was wearing a protective body suit when Jimmy attacked,

but somehow I think I would still feel the impact of a German

Shepherd repeatedly lunging at my torso.

Sgt. Eric Lee was a hit when he gave a dynamic presentation of how

police officers stay safe on the job. Now I finally understand why

police shine those blinding lights on your car when you get pulled

over. Lee also took us down to the briefing room and showed us a

display case of weapons seized off the streets of Laguna. You’d be

surprised at some of the weapons in that case -- from homemade brass

knuckles to big, shiny guns -- as Lee told us, think twice when you

get road rage and pull over to duke it out. You never know what

someone may have under the seat of their car.

There were many more fascinating topics explored in each class,

but the undisputed favorites were the trip to the Orange County Jail

and performing a mock traffic stop.

Though I had to leave early that night and couldn’t stay for all

the fun, Lee gave the class a rundown on traffic stops and what can

happen when a routine stop goes wrong. Class members each had the

chance to make a mock traffic stop of his or her own.

“The car stop, the anxiety of it, it’s just too much,” said

participant John Luna, Jr. “They make it look so easy.”

Luna, a reserve fire officer with the city who has lived here for

25 years, said he appreciated the openness of the Police Department

in operating the Citizen Academy.

“We [the Fire Department] work with them quite a bit, and I just

wanted to learn about the diversity of their job,” Luna said.

Along with traffic-stop night, the trip to the Orange County Jail

was also a show-stealer and an experience I will never forget, no

matter how hard I try. We were bused out to the county jail in Santa

Ana and met by two sheriff’s deputies who gave us a jaded,

un-sugarcoated lecture on prison life. Frightening tales of prison

gangs and airborne illnesses were not the best thing to hear about

before going on a tour, but they told us to take the information with

a grain of salt. Yeah, OK.

Some classmates brought rubber gloves to protect themselves from

bacteria; I just made a special effort not to touch anything. The

jail was a different world that I was not prepared for. I fought off

a panic attack for the duration of the two-hour tour. Something about

the bright, stark interior and being surrounded by hundreds of

inmates made me feel anxious. Either way, we got the opportunity to

see what it’s like to be in jail, and it was enough to know that you

never want to go back. My classmates agreed.

“It was kinda scary,” said Sandi Werthe, who joined the academy

with her husband, Hal. “It was so sad to see all those young people

and those wasted lives. It just really affected me afterward.”

As a reporter covering the police beat in Laguna, I spend a lot of

time at the police station, and I thought I knew what they were all

about. But even I had a lot to learn. More than ever, I appreciate

that the Police and Fire departments are looking out for us. If I

hear noises outside my house at 3 a.m., I’m thankful there are 911

dispatchers who will take my call and that police officers will come

and check it out. If I happen to slice off my finger while cooking

dinner, I’m glad the paramedics are only moments away.

At Wednesday night’s ceremony, that was the unanimous feeling from

the academy graduates: We understand our Police and Fire departments,

and we’re thankful that they do what they do.

“I have to say I really admire them for everything they have to go

through in protecting our little city,” Werthe said.

“I knew they had a tough job, but now I know they have a tough

job,” Luna said.

The next Citizen Academy will begin September 14. To apply, call

the Police Department, (949) 497-0701, and ask for an application.