Youth Police Academy Set to Kick Off This Week In Falls Twp.

The three-week-long Falls Township Youth Police Academy is set to start this week.

The program, run by Officer John Yeager, is in its third year and has worked with dozens of teenagers in the community.

Throughout the three weeks, the participants receive physical training, lectures and brief first aid lessons throughout the academy. Set at Pennsbury High School West, the kids have all of the resources and equipment they need. The academy is open for kids entering ninth grade through kids who just graduated this June.

Although the curriculum changes from year to year, Yeager said, the goal remains consistent: give the participating students a taste of police training and education they can use for the rest of their lives. The changing curriculum ensures that kids can return for subsequent years and become leaders in the program.

Yeager got the idea to bring the youth academy to Lower Bucks County after he spent some time observing other academies doing similar things in New Jersey. Now, the annual summer program is entering its third year and Yeager is expecting 73 kids to start the program this Wednesday.

The program concludes with a real graduation ceremony, where the diploma is earned, not received, the officer pointed out.

“I want the kids to feel like they earned this diploma,” Yeager explained, adding that the award isn’t participatory, but earned.

To qualify for the academy, kids must attend school, have regular attendance, not have disciplinary problems, try their best in class and have their parent or guardian meet with Yeager.

The only cost to the kids who want to participate, aside from fulfilling the requirements, is $20 used to get a catered lunch from McCaffery’s on the last day of instruction.

This past weekend, the Lincoln Highway Stadium Bar and Grill in Falls hosted a fundraiser for the program.

Don Simms, the manager at the Stadium Bar and Grill, said his devotion to the police department began last year when they started the Invest In A Cop program that helped purchase Kevlar vests for the department. This year, Simms and his staff is working to raise money for the Falls Township Youth Police Academy.

“It’s not for the bar, it’s a community thing,” Simms said.

Throughout the three hour fundraiser on Saturday, Simms expected about 400 people to come out in support of the police.

“They put their lives on the line every day, and we are happy to do anything we can to help them,” Simms explained.