Cambridge Teens Graduate from Youth Police Academy

The Cambridge Police Department would like to congratulate the 16 Cambridge youths who successfully completed the 2013 Cambridge Youth Police Academy.

In its fourth year, the Cambridge Youth Police Academy is a 6 week, 120 hour instructional program designed to expose participating youths, ages 14-18, to the various duties associated with the law enforcement profession through hands-on experience as part of the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program. 

More females than males participated in this year’s academy, a first for the program.

Officers Oswaldo Ortiz and Christine Levesque of the Youth & Family Services Unit served as the main program instructors and introduced teens to every day police work.  Youth participated in boot camp, self-defense and CPR, and learned about different units within the department through demonstrations given by officers.

A graduation ceremony was held on August 8^th at the Cambridge Police Department where several participants were honored with the “Fitness Award,” “Excellence Award,” and “Dedication Award.”  All 16 teens were also given certificates for successfully completing the academy.

Cambridge Police Superintendent Steven A. Williams, in attendance to congratulate the teens and award them their certificates, said, “We do this program because we believe it’s important for you to know what we are and who we are.  We need the community, and we can’t do our work without you.”