Crime & Safety
Tinton Falls Junior Police Cadets Learn the Ropes of Safety
Tinton Falls Junior Police Academy learned to rappel with the Tinton Falls Fire Department as part of the three-week course in emergency services.
Participants in this summer's Junior Police Academy in Tinton Falls were at the end of their ropes on Wednesday as they learned the finer points of rappelling at the Fort Monmouth Fire Academy.
In its ninth year, he Junior Police Academy is a highly sought after program for borough middle school students. Patch joined the group as they learned to rappel at the Fort Monmouth Fire Academy training facility on Wednesday Aug. 3 with the Tinton Falls Wayside Fire Department.
The cadets are kept busy during the three-week course with training in narcotics, traffic safety, the court system, forensics and SWAT team. There are also trips to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Monmouth County’s 911 call center in Freehold and a pistol range. The students also leave the program certified by the Red Cross in first aid and CPR.
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This year the program, which is held at the Ranney School on Hope Road, accepted 28 students who spend their mornings marching and then in a class on one of the many facets of law enforcement and emergency training. The afternoons are spent in a hands-on exercise based on the morning’s class. The afternoon is rounded off with a physical training session.
Lt. Robert Dulaune of the Tinton Falls Police Department started the free program nine years ago using a Monmouth County Municipal Alliance grant. “These days, everything is donated from local sources including the buses, uniforms and the field trips. The program is based at the Ranney School who provide not only their facilities but lunch too.”
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For 21 one-year-old Ryan Cullinane, the Junior Police Academy was the start of his career path, having graduated from the Monmouth County Police Academy in May and become a member of one of the borough's fire departments and EMS.
“I decided to follow this path into the police after I finished the program in 2003. My step father is a police officer in Red Bank and he encouraged me, too,” said Cullinane who was on hand to help out on Wednesday.
The students will cap the program off with a graduation ceremony on Aug. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Ranney School.
