CARBONDALE – A graduation ceremony was held Wednesday at the Carbondale Police Department for the 2024 graduates of the Citizen Police Academy.

Graduates received their awards for their active participation during the basic and advanced sessions of the academy. The goal of the academy is to develop positive relations, better understanding and increased communication between the community and the police department through education. The academy also provided them an additional opportunity to voice their opinions directly to the police department.

Mayor Carolin Harvey and Interim City Manager and Chief of Police Stan Reno spoke to the graduates and added their thanks to the participants for taking an active role in learning about policing in Carbondale. Friends and family of the graduates were also in attendance as were several members of the police department. 

Kristi, Kaanan, Orville, Jace, Miranda, Meghann, Owen and Diamond, thank you again for making this a great Citizens Police Academy.

“Thank you and congratulations to the Citizen Police Academy graduates,” said Interim City Manager and Chief of Police Stan Reno, “It’s Police Department outreach such as this that allows us to continue to strengthen partnerships between law enforcement and the community as well as work toward a safer, stronger and more united Carbondale.”

The next Citizen’s Police Academy will be offered in September of 2024 with a start date that has not been set at this time.  

Anyone interested in attending the Citizen’s Police Academy is encouraged to contact Randy Mathis at email rmathis@explorecarbondale.com or by calling 618-457-3200 Ext. 402.