Editor:

I recently had the privilege of attending the Brentwood Citizens Academy at the police department. For 11 weeks we learned about how our police department functions.

I especially want to thank Sgt. Walter O’Grodnick and Lt. Hanson for organizing the program and providing us with frank and honest answers to our questions, as did all the officers that made presentations on their department or their specific duties at the PD.

Our entire class would like to acknowledge, first of all, Chief Evenson for encouraging the academy. We would also like to thank Officer Wilson, Officer Luo, Sgt. Verbis, Sgt. Herbert, Sgt. DiMercurio, Detective Orlando, Officer Peachman, CSO Keady, Bernice Arteaga, Sonia Cardinale, Officer Nance, CSO Perry the CCSO staff at force options and the driving simulator, and the Sheriff’s Department staff at the Martinez Detention Facility.

We learned about tasers and how to fire one, we were shown some crime scene investigations techniques, we inspected one of our police cars and learned we didn’t want to ride in the back of one. We had a great class on SWAT and a fabulous class on gangs.

We want to sincerely thank every member of our police department, including the ones we were not able to meet, for a really great experience.

JoAnn Klement and the 2012 Citizens Academy class