Keith Students Learn Police Work First-Hand

Students at Keith Middle School received a behind-the-scenes look at police work recently through the Junior Police Academy. The eight-week program is led by New Bedford Police School Resource Officer Julio Barbosa.

Twenty-five students participating in the voluntary program learned different aspects of police work, such as handcuffing, physical fitness and different types of laws.

"The goal of this program is to educate the students on the responsibility of being a police officer. I explain the chain of command of the police department and how the police department functions," Officer Barbosa said in a release. "My goal is that, by the end of the academy, each student will understand the job of a police officer, and walk out of my class looking at a police officer as a positive role model."

And, of course, the students also had an opportunity to sit in a police cruiser and work the lights.

The after-school program is scheduled to repeat again at Keith this spring, as well as at Normandin and Roosevelt Middle Schools.