Learning the way of the law
Academy shows youth it’s fun to be cops

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — For the past six years, Lisa Lopez has been plummeted, soaked, killed (figuratively), forced to do countless push-ups and learn how to do all sorts of things she never thought she would ever do.

And she has loved every minute of it.

A lieutenant in the junior police academy — held last week here — Lopez was one of 26 kids ranging from 8 years old to 15 who had the opportunity to challenge themselves to be the best they could in a program that is getting praise not only from area law enforcement officials but from city officials as well.

“We do a lot of physical training,” said Lopez, a student at Miyamura High School. Plus a lot of push-ups. And she means a lot.

But while it’s a challenge it’s also a lot of fun, said the two sons of McKinley County Canine Officer John Trevor-Smith. Devon and Cameron Trevor-Smith, both spending their first week in the program, said they had no trouble naming the event that they liked the most — the paintball competition, where it’s a matter of kill or be killed.

Half of the kids who participated in this past session had been in the program before and knew just how hard and how much fun the week would be. Many of them have parents, like the Trevor-Smiths, who are in law enforcement in some capacity.

Ron Silversmith, a lieutenant in the Gallup Police Department, said the purpose of the academy is not to convince kids that being a policeman is a lot of fun or that they should be thinking of law enforcement as a career.
“We want them to learn to be productive citizens,” he said.
And he and a lot of volunteers from this area do this by providing the youngsters with tasks meant to challenge their physical stamina and teach them teamwork.

It’s not for the faint of heart, said Richard Acevedo, another of the coordinators, which is why most of this year’s class of cadets were between the ages of 13 and 15.
Getting them younger sometimes creates problems, he said, because the physical challenges may make them sleepy or they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the others. But Jet Ferrari, the youngest at 8, said he was also having a great time and enjoying the experience.

The program began in 2000 using a similar program run by the Police Athletic League in Albuquerque as a model. But because of funding difficulties, the program here is only half as long and has fewer participants.

“We would like to have it available for more students but we don’t have the funds,” said Silversmith.

City Councilman Bill Nechero, who has been a big supporter of the program since it started, was able to help secure $25,000 a couple of years ago from the city to help the local Police Athletic League program provide funds to purchase scuba gear for the academy as well as some needed supplies for the boxing program that the group sponsors other parts of the year.

“It’s a fabulous program,” said Nechero, who added that once he saw what the programs provides to area youth, he was sold completely on its value for the Gallup area.

The program costs about $5,000 to put on a year, which is raised through donations. The funds are used to purchase T-shirts and other clothing for each of the participants and pay for an awards banquet that is held at the end of the week.
Some of he kids who are part of the program are from troubled homes and these are the kids, said Acevedo, who may have benefited he most from the week of discipline and physical challenges.
Parents who want to get their kids involved in the program in the future should contact Acevedo at the state police headquarters or Silversmith at the Gallup Police. Because of the limited space, Silversmith said, it has to be done of “a first-come, first-serve basis.”