FOLEY, Ala. - The Foley Police Department will begin hosting a citizens police academy course, offering information about the department and police procedures to the public.

The program will last 10 weeks with classes happening once a week from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Foley Justice Center. The day of the week for the class is determined by the class at the first meeting on June 10 at 6 p.m. at the center.

Lt. Charles Massey, Foley PD patrol special operations commander, said the course is "basically a real condensed version of what the police officers go through in the regular academy" with information ranging from how to write a ticket to the ins and outs of the judicial system.

"We'll have demonstrations with the dogs, our canines, and we'll have role play," Massey said. "The last Saturday of the program we will go to the range and fire all the weapons we have at the department. They will go through a safety course the night before."

Other topics covered in the 10-week course includes: death investigations, incident offense reports, the juvenile judicial system and learning the different ways of how police investigates narcotics.

"It's a good time. It's a lot of fun," Massey said. "It's only three hours, but we have so many questions we have to cut them off sometimes."

Residents who sign up must attend at least 80 percent of the classes to receive a short-sleeve polo shirt with the Foley PD logo on it, and this shirt allows citizens to ride in a police car with the officers during shifts.

"We set up the ride with the officers on at least two shifts. If they say, 'I really don't want to ride,' we won't make them, but we really want them to," Massey said, noting one shift is during the day and one shift is at night. "It's a whole different animal from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. compared to 6 p.m. to 6 a.m."

Citizens ride with the officers for eight hours, and Massey said this allows people to see what it is really like.

"It's just to educate the public about their department," Massey said. "We're kind of this mysterious entity in the city. A lot of people feel it's closed. A lot are afraid to ask questions and approach officers. It's kind of a stereotype we're trying to knock down. Officers are approachable. You can ask questions. It's just to open up the department and show what it's all about."

This is the third time the course has been offered, and the first group that took it in the year 2000 still meets monthly because of how much they enjoyed the program, Massey said.

The course can fit 15 citizens and five spots remain as od Wednesday. The reason for 15 is to make it easier and allow everyone to have a chance to shoot at the range, Massey said.

The course is free. For more information, contact Massey at (251) 943-4431.