HIGH POINT, N.C. — There's no better way to know about the role of a police officer than to spend some time in their shoes.
That's what a group of community members and High Point University students spent weeks doing.
They're part of the High Point Police Department's Citizens Academy.
It's wrapping up its 13-week spring semester and will soon be looking for the next group.
Throughout the academy, participants participate in a variety of training exercises based on real-life scenarios like death investigations, building searches, use of force tactics and traffic stops.
Meredith Snoddy has worked at a local church for 17 years and decided to join the academy after interacting with officers at her church.
Most recently she participated in a traffic stop scenario and helped pull over someone speeding. She told News 2 she appreciated the officer she worked with.
"I was saying, 'Why are you driving so quickly?', And he said well don't say that say, 'Why is this vehicle going so fast?', because that way the person doesn't immediately come on the defensive. So, everything that he did was very respectful nature. He wanted to put the person at ease, even when he said to ask the person to turn the light on, it's not just for my safety it's for theirs," Snoddy said.
Lt. Derek Bostic, the department's community engagement supervisor, said people in the academy learn the responsibilities of an officer but it's also an opportunity to recruit new officers.
"Some students from High Point University obviously don't know what they want to do and hopefully we can capture their attention and they understand, hey this is a pretty cool job! I had a lot of questions and I'm getting them answered. When they do the ride along, they come back and I always ask them when they come back to class tell me about your ride along and they are so excited about how fun it was and you know you are captivating their attention," Bostic said.
Several local police departments host these academies.
High Point's next academy starts in September. Winston-Salem has one that starts in August. Greensboro just completed there's last week.