The next session of the Gurnee Citizen Police Academy has been delayed due to COVID-19 precautions. For updates on the next session, please continue to check this website or follow us on Facebook for announcements.
Gurnee Citizen Police Academy
The Gurnee Citizen Police Academy is a 33-hour block of instruction designed to give the public a working knowledge of the practices, policies, and procedures governing the police department. The instruction consists of eleven 3-hour blocks conducted on a weekly basis. The week 13 session boasts a brief graduate ceremony.
Participants must be at least 18 years of age and of good moral character with no felony convictions.
Classes are held each Thursday evening from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm. For more information please contact Education Specialist Tami Martin at (847) 599-7181 or via email.
Class Summary:
Class #27 (March 2016) students wrote a summary of each class. Their writings are below:
Week #5
Chris started off by asking the class if we have all seen “CSI” on TV, and then explained how that is NOT reality. Crimes are never “solved” in 60 minutes, especially when forensic data needs to be gathered, processed, packaged, analyzed, interpreted, documented, and preserved. Gurnee has 18 evidence technicians. Each work closely with the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory personnel specifically on physical evidence.
The class split up into four groups and we had a made up crime described to the group. Then we rotated through stages of the mock crime scene to try our hands at being evidence technicians. We had Tracy leading the fingerprinting and blood evidence portion. She explained the differences in various finger printer powders and under which circumstances you would use each type. Then we got to collect a sample from a stain and field-test it for the presumptive presence of blood.
Then we moved into the room where the actual (mock) crime occurred. Kirk Helgesen explained bullets, their lands and groves, bullet trajectory and guns in general. This was very informative and everyone walked away with much more knowledge of this subject. We went over victim and witness statements, then compared those with what the crime scene evidence seemed to be indicating.
The next stage was footprint impressions. We had a volunteer use his footwear to make a footprint and Chris showed us the different items they can use to collect this evidence. My group had lots of questions and Chris answered all of them. With her many years of service (over 30), it’s obvious she is an expert in her field.
Week #6 (04/07/16) will focus on automated traffic enforcement, the investigations division, and crime prevention.
Youth Citizen Police Academy
The next session of the Gurnee Youth Citizen Police Academy has been canceled due to COVID-19 precautions. For updates on next summer's session, please continue to check this website or follow us on Facebook for announcements.
Applications are available at the Gurnee Police Department and Warren Township High School Student Services.
For questions and to submit an application please contact Public Education Specialist Tami Martin at 847-599-7181 or email TamiM@police.gurnee.il.us
Youth police academy participants will experience virtually every aspect of policing including patrol, investigations, traffic enforcement, canine unit, firearms, defensive tactics, and more. The academy is FREE and lunch is provided each day.
Applicants must:
• be able to successfully pass a background examination
• be a high school student in good standing
• be of good moral character
• have reliable transportation