VHPD using Leadership Challenge to get to know youth
The Vestavia Hills Police Department has a special assignment this week: welcoming and training 22 teenagers in what it means to work in public safety.
VHPD welcomed 22 rising ninth through 12th graders this week for its inaugural Youth Leadership Challenge.
From physical training and self defense to threat assessment and leadership, the teens will be going through a series of classes, workshops and trainings to acquaint them with the ins and outs of being a police officer.
The goal, Captain Brian Gilham said, is to foster a relationship with the young people–part of the department’s focus on being in and among the community it serves.
“The whole premise of it is to afford them opportunities to get to know us,” he said.
The cadets–19 young men and three young women–will spend the entire week with the department. The week began with orientation and leadership classes, with the cadets meeting various department heads and task force leaders. As the week goes on, the cadets will go through various training exercises–many of which police officers have to complete themselves when training for the job.
Cadets will take part in the same the physical fitness tests officers are required to complete. They will also learn about gun safety and how to complete a safe traffic stop, see the workings of the K9 Unit, be certified in CPR and see demonstrations of how the department uses technology in search and rescue missions.
Most of the cadets are Vestavia Hills High School students, and Gilham said the programming was aimed at being both fun and informative.
“Most of it is what we thought would be fun, and we thought it would be challenging, as well,” he said.
The idea for the program came after VHPD Chief Dan Rary went to a chiefs’ conference and learned about how other departments held similar events.
Right now, the Challenge is expected to be an annual event, and Gilham said the department hopes to make the program more competitive in the future, potentially offering college credit for the cadets.
The reasoning behind hosting such an event boils down to a need to connect with the community–especially the young people in the community.
“Police officers are people. We’re people who have the responsibility to keep the community safe,” Gilham said, adding that forecasts indicate there will be a struggle in years to come to recruit and retain public safety personnel.
Gilham said the inaugural Challenge has so far been a success, and that the department wanted to thank the community partners that made it possible.
[To follow along with the cadets’ endeavors, visit the VHPD Facebook page.]