Campus Police is offering a “police academy” for interested students, faculty and staff members at the Campus Police Office for the first time. Registration, which ends the second week of February, is now open for all interested candidates.

The academy includes seven blocks of instruction and will meet the majority of the time on Tuesday nights from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., according to Sgt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police. The classes will begin Feb. 20 and will end April 17. Graduation day will be April 24.

“The academy is going to allow us to interact with the community through a positive experience and [will help us in] educating the community,” Barnwell said.

Daniel Hollis, a senior in history, said he was interested in taking the classes and had signed up, but is no longer able to attend the academy due to a class conflict. He said he encourages others to sign up as well.

“It’s important to know about Campus Police policies and what we can do to protect students as well as ourselves,” Hollis said.

Hollis said the general populace sees Campus Police as “adversarial rather than there to assist,” and said through these courses he hopes participants can overcome those barriers and see what Campus Police do.

Barnwell said the classes will be highly interactive and because of the student-to-instructor interaction, Campus Police has to limit the number of participants. As of Tuesday, 10 slots were open. Campus Police has to do a background check on all registrants, and once they are cleared, will be accepted into the class.

“Since seating is limited, I encourage anyone who is interested to apply as soon as possible,” Barnwell said.

Adrina Graham, a sophomore in textile and apparel management, signed up for the academy.

“I just hope to understand what it is they actually go through day-to-day on the job,” she said.

Through this class, Barnwell said participants will “understand what we have to do and understand how to educate others.”

Graham said she was interested in law enforcement and decided to apply for the courses.

“I like being able to help the community whenever I can and [would like to see] how someone else does it,” she said.

According to Barnwell, different instructors from Campus Police will lead the courses each night and participants will get to learn and experience situations Campus Police faces. For example, one night’s session will focus on firearms and students in the academy can fire weapons, Barnwell said.

“The academy will help students understand law enforcement at the police level, and it will provide them with education they can take with them to help reduce crime by applying the things they learned in class,” he said.

Topics that will be covered in the courses are accreditation, recruitment, telecommunications, patrol operation, crime prevention, domestic violence, criminal investigations, firearms and use of force.

Barnwell said the free classes will show students what police officers go through on a daily basis.

Hollis said students and faculty should take this class because it is part of their duty as citizens to not only rely on law enforcement, but to learn how to handle different situations.

“Like we’re taught at N.C. State, [the police academy involves] getting primary sources, working with people who actually do the work,” Hollis said.

Barnwell said the program is a certificate program, so at the end of the class, students will receive T-shirts and certificates for completing the program.

“Depending on the success of this initial program, we will continue to have these academies,” Barnwell said.

Students and faculty interested in participating in the academy can pick up registration forms from the Campus Police Office.