Nassau high school students get taste of police work

As Nassau County police officers looked on, 52 high school students clambered over a 6-foot wall, dragged humanoid dummies down a hallway and participated in an extensive obstacle course in the gym of the county's Police Academy in Massapequa Park.

The experience was part of a daylong Police Academy training session to introduce the students to law enforcement career opportunities and the realities of police officers' work.

The "youth academy" was geared particularly toward the county's Asian community, because Asian families in the area had expressed concern that they were being targeted by recent burglaries, Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey said. A group of students from Valley Stream Central High School also attended the session.

"We thought we could bridge the gap between the police and the kids," Mulvey said. "At the end of the day, we're quite amazed to see how many of these kids are now considering policing as a career."

Several area ethnic associations, such as the Korean Parents Association of Long Island and the Great Neck Chinese Association, came together to encourage high school students to attend the session.

"This is a good way to let the children and the parents know that this is a viable career path," said community leader Lee Tu, 35, of Albertson.

The county police department also used the session to teach the students about the dangers of drinking and driving. They used "fatal vision goggles" to show the students how drinking can impair their abilities to walk in a straight line or catch a ball.

The students also had the opportunity to see a police helicopter in action and speak with aviation officers and, later, to see and work with police dogs.

In some cases, it seemed parents were the driving force behind the students' participation. Said Great Neck South High School junior Kevin Eng: "My mom wanted me to be here. [She] thought it would be a great opportunity."

For others, the academy reinforced the idea that police work is an appealing career choice.

"I have a lot of family members that are cops and it has been on my mind . . . " said Valley Stream resident Danny Napoliorello, 15, a sophomore at Valley Stream Central. "I know it's a real interesting career."

Posted Wednesday, May 12, 2010

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