Message from JPA Program Director Kelly LeConte
The Junior Police Academy is built on a simple, yet powerful foundation: when law enforcement officers and young people are brought together, great things start to happen!
The Essential Ingredient
The Junior Police Academy taps into something as old as the law enforcement profession itself; one that goes all the way back to the first time a father put on a police uniform and stood before his children.
Frame that image in your mind and glimpse the engine that powers JPA:
for youth, someone to champion justice;
for the police officer, someone worth fighting for.
Together young people and police officers generate a uniquely American brand of idealism that is essential to both liberty and democracy – an enthusiasm for justice!
Simple & Powerful
This is, after all, the simple yet powerful central theme of the Junior Police Academy:
Police officers are the pillars of a democracy; a noble extension of our national identity.
Idealistic? Perhaps.
But the ideals of one generation quickly become the artifacts of the next unless they are kept vitally alive.
JPA instills these very principles of American justice into the classroom – to be put to useful purpose by the next generation.
Spanning a Generation
Now in its 20th year, the Junior Police Academy’s impact can be measured across an entire generation of graduating cadets.
Today, there are citizens across the country who better understand their civic responsibilities because of JPA – empowered to contribute to the life of their community and their country in ways that enhance public safety and solve problems.
“Advanced Citizenship“
In this country, we are called to an ‘advanced citizenship’ which can only be realized when young citizens understand that they are stake-holders in our democracy,” said JPA Advisory Council member Chief Tom Clemons.
“The Junior Police Academy often marks the start of a young person actively assuming their lifelong role as informed citizens – extending the program’s true impact far into the future.”
Historic Tradition
The Junior Police Academy is built on the premise that public safety officers provide an ideal role model for mutual respect, tolerance and the peaceful resolution of conflict.
The value of police departments working with young people was recognized early on. “Junior” or “boy police” programs started appearing during the first two decades of the 20th century, sponsored by local police departments or schools in places like Berkeley, California; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Cincinnati, Ohio; and New York City.
With the adoption of community policing in recent decades, programs embracing the original spirit of these efforts started to reemerge.
Founded in 1992, the Junior Police Academy was among the first and has steadily established its leadership over the past 20 years. Now we invite you to catch the spirit of JPA. Give reality to a noble historic tradition: police are the public and the public are the police.
Acknowledgements
The Junior Police Academy would not exist without the generosity of our donors.
To respect their privacy, we withhold their names, but we hope they understand the depth of our appreciation. We work everyday to justify the confidence all our donors have shown in us and in our mission.
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks go to Chief Tom Clemons for his inspiration and support; and Chief Pat Fuller (former Chief of the AISD Police Department, Austin, Texas) for not only shepherding this program, but allowing us to have some fun in the process.
We are proud to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our Advisory Council, past and present:
Sgt Robert Goetz, Everett Police Department
Chief Pat Fuller, former Chief of the Austin ISD Police Department, currently a Director at the Austin Parks and Recreation Department
Officer Suzanne D’Ambrose: Monmouth County Voc-Tech School, Freehold, New Jersey
Officer Mitchell Garcia: Houston Police Department, Texas
Officer James Adams: Hanford Police Department, California
Officer John Clapp: White Settlement Police Department, Texas
Officer James Taylor: Goshen Township Police Department, Ohio
Officer Mark Dillon: Hanford Police Department, California
Captain Tom Long: Herkimer Police Department, New York
Deputy Cory Hughston: Crime Prevention Specialist, Victoria County Sheriff’s Office, Texas
Patricia Montemayor, Private Investigator. Former SRO for Murchison Middle School, Austin ISD, Texas
SPECIAL THANKS
Patricia Lyle
Retired, Lamar Middle School Principal, Austin, Texas
Officer Rick Jennings,
Pequannock Community Policing
Sgt. Pauleen Hatch
Austin Independent School District
Police Department, Austin, Texas
Sheila Anderson
Austin Independent School District
Police Department, Austin, Texas
The Austin ISD Police Department
JPA Instructors
Officer Gary Richards, Temple,
Texas Police Department
Charles A. Miller, Jr., Criminal Justice Teacher, Westwood High School, Austin, Texas,
Lt. Colonel United States National Guard.
Ms. Rhonda Haynes, Project Director Public Service, Law- Related Education, State Bar of Texas
Ms. Jan L. Miller, Coordinator,
Hatton W. Sumners Foundation Institutes on the Founding
Documents, State Bar of Texas
We also benefit mightily from the time and dedication of countless volunteers and staff, including:
Phil LeConte, Executive Director, Programming
David Dierks, Chief of Staff, Financials
Kelly LeConte, Program Director
June Mellon, Program Coordinator
Paul Kutak, Accounting
Greg Bolin
And the late Edward J. Cain, Jr., Associate Professor, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, who, like the Northern Star, provided guidance and helped us take an idea and turn it into something that shines.
You have all enriched this program. To each of you, our heartfelt thanks.
