Citizens' Academy

[eltee]

If the worst thing a LEO has to deal with on his/her shift is me sitting in his passenger seat, its a pretty good life.

Especially if you're buying.

Where I work, I have given citizens tours of the armory, overseen shoots for VIP's where we let them (men and women) shoot full autos, sniper rigs and even a .50 cal bolter. I enjoy doing show and tell and have not had a bad visitor...of course they can be removed if they become a problem. A couple of times I've taken kids into the jail areas and that can often be both a rewarding and amusing (from the cop's view) experience. I've done both barred cells and glassed cells. In one instance, one of the guys suddenly ran up and smacked himself into the glass in an effort to scare the s*** out of the kid on the other side. Yes, it worked.

Most of the cops sort of volunteer for ridealongs, tours, etc. A good C.O. will know when a volunteer is simply an overtime hog doing it for the $$$, someone who is a slug and is looking for another way to get out of doing "real" work or someone who will take it seriously and do a good job. So, yes, there are cops who do not like civilians within the zone, but there are enough who do like interacting with the public.