Kids Get Glimpse Inside Police Department

“Throw your keys out of the car.”

“Put your left hand outside of the car.”

“Reach outside and open the handle and open the door.”

The driver, suspected to be driving a stolen car, followed the police officer’s instructions and got out of the car slowly, facing forward and then backing up towards the officer’s voice until instructed to lie on the ground. Then the suspect was handcuffed.

The traffic stop, held last week as part of Princeton’s Youth Police Academy, showed students firsthand the process by which the police apprehend suspects during a motor vehicle stop. 

Lisa Knigge, 13, who is going into eighth grade at John Witherspoon Middle School, played the part of a suspected criminal during the training, while her sister Julia, 11, played one of the police officers.

"It's been really fun, I've learned things I never would have known unless I was a criminal or a cop and I don't plan on becoming either,” Lisa Knigge said.

There were 22 participants in the eighth annual Youth Police Academy Aug 20-24, hosted jointly by the Princeton Borough and Princeton Township Police. The program was open to students entering sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

The week offered kids a chance to learn the inner working of a police department through classroom activities, hands on techniques, and police demonstrations, including a CSI game, car accident investigations, crime scene investigation, arrest procedures, K-9 demonstrations, building searches, fire safety and basic first aid. 

Kamola Agzamova, 11, said her favorite activities were the K-9 demonstration and the state police helicopter landing behind the police station.

The key to a traffic stop is to adhere to standard police procedure and ensure the officer’s safety at all times, said Township Police Det. Ben Gering, who organized the academy.

Under Gering and Borough Police Off. Tom Lagomarsino’s supervision, the students spoke in short sentences, with step-by-step instructions. If the suspected criminal didn’t listen to an instruction, the officer repeated it again, louder.

“It’s like on the video,” Gering told the students. “Sometimes they listen to you and sometimes they act like they have ants in their pants.”