District Programs
The AISD Police Academy
The AISD Police Academy has seen a great deal of change throughout the 2015-2016 school year . Students taking this course have begun to work closely with many officers from the Arlington Police Department . This partnership between the AISD , local law enforcement and the University of Texas at Arlington has created Arlington ’ s own Hometown Recruiting Program .
The program ’ s mission is to support students on their journey to becoming local law enforcement officers . The first step in that process is the AISD Police Academy . The academy began in the fall of 2014 and is viewed by officers of the Arlington Police Department as one of the best ways to connect and instruct students wishing to learn more about the career and its benefits and challenges .
In the last three months , students have had multiple opportunities to work directly with officers from APD . Students have worked hard to build a solid base of policing knowledge in order to run structured scenarios with APD volunteers . Scenarios were set up to represent real life encounters the officers themselves have had to work through on the streets of Arlington . Each student was tasked with working each “ call for service ” as a patrol officer . The students were forced to make real-time decisions on the safety tactics utilized , Texas Penal Code infractions and their right to search or arrest the suspects . Officers shared their experience and knowledge with the academy class
after completion of each scenario by all students . Students performed well during these simulated situations . Students gained from this experience a better understanding of the law enforcement profession and the work APD does with the community on a day-to-day basis .
The students of Academy Class 2 have also realized the need to stay physically fit in order to be effective officers . Physical fitness training gives students the opportunity to lead the exercises and utilize teamwork in order to reach goals that are unattainable individually . Recently the AISD Police Academy met with members from the APD SWAT Team to run a local obstacle course . While in groups of three , the academy students worked directly with a SWAT team member to learn how to use their individual strengths to conquer the physical obstacles as a group .
Future work with defensive ground fighting , search tactics , traffic stops and investigations will be held in the spring . Additionally , students have been invited to attend the annual APD Awards Ceremony . The ceremony will celebrate and highlight outstanding achievements in service .
The AISD Police Academy is accepting applications for the 2016-2017 school year . For more information please contact Michelle Woodall at mwoodall @ aisd . net or 682-867-7400 . †
4 Arlington School & Family - March / April 2016