Fifteen police officers and one regional loss-prevention manager united on campus this week to learn more about crime-prevention techniques and bring resources back to their communities around Michigan.
Randy Tripp, associate director of the Michigan Drug Abuse Resistance Education Training Center, said the weeklong session is the first time this type of basic prevention school has been in Michigan.
"Having police officers come in gives them additional skills to recognize situations in their community," Tripp said.
The MSU School of Criminal Justice Five-Day Basic Crime Prevention School began Monday and will continue through Friday, addressing a variety of different topics from a multi-faceted approach.
Presentations are based on problem-solving, stimulating communication skills, public-speaking skills, problem-based learning and technical assistance from a community-based focus, Tripp said.
The school was organized by The Michigan Regional Community Policing Institute at MSU in partnership with the Crime Prevention Association of Michigan.
Despite the opportunity offered to statewide law enforcement officers, security personnel, school resource officers, crime-prevention practitioners and private-industry personnel, only 16 of the 24 available spots were filled for the training session.
Officers from the Detroit, Flint and Grand Rapids areas were in attendance, but no local officers had registered to attend weeklong crime-prevention school.
"There's many different reasons why there may not be as many local people here," Tripp said. "This may not be the right time for training in some departments. Once we're done with the school, we will begin evaluating the attendants' responses and thinking about future schools."
There are 300 members in Crime Prevention Association of Michigan who have received training, which is generally instructed from a technical approach, Tripp said.
Michigan Regional Community Policing Institute Associate Director Jerome Boles, a former police chief, spoke with the professionals Tuesday.
Boles used discussion and problem-solving groups to bring participants to think more analytically and creatively about problems and learn how to enhance communication to ask better questions.
"Who solves the crime? The people," Boles said to the group. "You hold the keys to the city, you have information, information is power.
"You are problem-solving every minute that you are working,"
Detective Joyce Nelson from the City of Novi Police Department said it's great to be able to learn more about crime prevention. Nelson said the department, where she has spent the past nine years, encounters mostly property and retail crimes.
"It's good to get hands-on experience and have a variety of topics discussed here," Nelson said. "I would like to see our crime-prevention program enhanced, and I hope to bring as much back to the city as possible."
