Greensboro City Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter is finally going to get a long time request granted.

For months Abuzuaiter has been pushing for a mini-police academy course for members of the City Council.

Abuzuaiter is a proud graduate of the Police Citizens Academy, which is a program to teach citizens about the Police Department, and has long advocated for the City Council to spend a few hours in a similar setting learning about police policies and procedures.

The City Council has been focused on police procedures this year and during just about every discussion Abuzuaiter has advocated for a mini-police academy class for councilmembers. At one point, Abuzuaiter had given up on the idea of ever having a mini-police academy and suggested that the City Council simply have a work session on the Police Department rather than looking at the issue of the day in isolation.

At the City Council virtual work session on Tuesday, Sept. 15, City Manager David Parrish confirmed that a mini-police academy session would be provided for councilmembers who wished to participate and it would last for less than a day.

Assistant City Manager Trey Davis said it would be a short course based on the Police Citizens Academy model and would cover things like use of force, procedural justice, traffic stops, the early warning system, the Fourth Amendment and other topics. Abuzuaiter said, A lot of these questions that keep arising would be handled in a course like that.

Councilmember Sharon Hightower said, We dont need to learn how to be a police officer. She added, I think we already know what they do.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that she did a similar one-day course with the fire department, learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

Vaughan also said that the media was invited to the fire department class.

Councilmember Goldie Wells said that police were under attack all over the country and would benefit the council in its decision making to know and understand more about the day-to-day life of a police officer.

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Council To Have One-Day Session To Learn About Police - The Rhino TImes