BEL AIR, Md. — The motorists are really cops and the guns aren’t actually real, but in real life, the pair of teens getting out of a marked squad car could be putting their lives on the line just pulling over a vehicle.
“It puts them in our shoes and they are really nervous. They don’t know what they’re walking up on,” Sgt. Brian O’Neil of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office instructs us.
Hear from teens as they take a step into law enforcement's shoes
“Hello, sir,” says 14-year-old Jaccob Morales as he approaches the driver’s side door.
“Gun! Gun! Gun! Gun!” hollers his partner, 17-year-old Ryleigh Zimmerman.
“Step out of the vehicle! Hands up!” shouts the Perry Hall High School freshman as he unholsters his fake handgun,
“Take off your seatbelt and step out of the car!”
High school students participating in the Harford County Sheriff’s Office’s Youth Academy in Bel Air.
It’s a summer camp that gives them their first exposure to what it’s like to be a law enforcer, and many of them are considering careers in serving the country or their communities.
“I have a very strong interest in joining the Marines, but I’ve been looking into all law enforcement,” said Zimmerman, a North Harford High School senior, “I like to be helpful. My grandparents served. I just want to continue that legacy.”
“My father was in the force when he was around 20, 30 years old before retiring and I want to live like him. I want to be like him. He’s my personal hero,” added Morales.
Campers spend five days and four nights here, and there’s far more to it than just pulling over speeders and arresting the bad guys.
There’s a dose of discipline and physical training not unlike that which they would experience in an actual police academy and a chance to see the same school resource officers they encounter on their campuses in a new light.
“Part of this program too is just to show them that we are just not robots and we’re human behind the badge,” said O’Neil, “We have families and we like to interact with them and like them to get to know us.”
Real deputies and officers who risk their lives every day putting the safety of those they serve before their very own.
“Just having this experience being around all of these people, the SROs, our friends, it shines a new light on it,” Morales told us.
