I would like to give a big thank you to Lt. Jeff Strom and all of the Albert Lea Police Department for the last eight weeks. I had the opportunity to attend the 2011 Albert Lea Police Departments Citizens’ Academy. I want to strongly recommend to anyone able to attend next year to please apply for the class. The eight weeks went by very quickly, and so did the nights. It was extremely interesting and I think we all learned a lot.

The classes were one night a week from 7 to 9 p.m. The officers stayed and answered the many questions that we had.

The class is “intended to give us insight into ‘our’ police department.” With a wide variety of topics from the history of the department, officer equipment, ALPD SWAT Unit, crime scene investigation and bike patrol to name a few. We had a chance to shoot at the indoor range and an invitation for a 4-hour ride along with an officer. Thank you for taking the time out of your nights to help us understand what our police department does and to meet some of the officers and learn of the many “hats” they wear.

Shelly Gold

agent

Farmers Insurance

Albert Lea