SHERIFF'S CITIZEN ACADEMY - GRADUATION FALL 2016

Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry opened the remodeled, reconstituted and upgraded Cullman County Sheriff’s Citizen Academy back on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. The Fall 2016 edition of the Academy began on September 6, 2016. This 9 week Academy program wrapped up with a full graduation ceremony last night at the Desperation Church auditorium. The Cullman County Sheriff’s Citizen Academy is a 100% free program made available to Cullman County residents who completed applications to attend following a public announcement last summer. The official citizen head count of this Academy greatly exceeded the initial, original participant ceiling of 50 due to high citizen demand. Right at seventy-five Cullman County residents graduated Tuesday night. This Academy was comprised of nine consecutive weekly three-hour sessions providing attendees a transparent, in-depth look into every aspect of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office. In addition to classroom education, there were optional fields trips in squad cars with deputies, firing range training, tactical team demonstrations, and other law enforcement-based educational excursions. Sheriff Gentry brought in Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange as the Keynote Speaker for this graduating class. His remarks were simultaneously powerful, touching, aggressive and sensible. We spoke with the Attorney General immediately after the ceremony concluded. On opening night of the Academy, Sheriff Gentry immediately and strongly emphasized that the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office belonged to the citizens of Cullman County. He used the words ‘YOUR Sheriff’s Department’ multiple times in his remarks. The Sheriff repeated that same theme again during his closing address last night. The newly minted graduates now known exactly what the Sheriff means when he says ‘it’s your Sheriff’s Office’. He is a strong advocate of transparency inside and outside the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Citizen Academy was a natural extension of that worldview and policy. According to Sheriff Gentry, “The primary goal of the Sheriff’s Citizen Academy was to provide citizens with more knowledge about the role the sheriff’s office is playing in keeping our community a safe place to live. Any law enforcement agency is only as good as the support it receives from the community’s confidence in its operations and activities. The men and women of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office are here to serve you … the citizen’s of the county.” The next Sheriff’s Citizen Academy is expected to commence during the first week of February 2017. The Sheriff’s Office will make a public announcement on that well in advance of the event. For the full story on this graduation, complete with images and interviews, please see: http://cullmantoday.com/2016/11/02/cu...