BY HANNAH GOLDFINGER
HGOLDFINGER@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
LEE COUNTY —
Lee County’s annual summer camp — the Junior Deputy Academy — is a chance for young children through high school students to come and learn about everything that makes the Sheriff’s Office run.
“We are proud to conduct the Junior Deputy Academy for the youth of Lee County,” said Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones. “The focus of the JDA is to provide a glimpse into the duties and training of deputy sheriffs. The emphasis is on the importance of character, integrity, accountability and teamwork along the obligation of citizenship. We want our young people to be successful in life.
“Our School Resource Division deputies are assisted by previous JDA graduates in the form of class leaders, along with adult volunteers. All give maximum effort in interacting with the JDA attendees to provide them with the principles of success and making sure everyone has fun along the way.”
There are four key areas of focus for the program: Physical Fitness, Lee County Sheriff’s Office Demonstrations, Character Building and Law Enforcement Practical Exercises.
For example, one day of the camp, the students saw a K9 demonstration and took a tour of the office, including the jail.
They learned about processing, inmates, routines and more.
One of the children, Cole Catrett, who is 8 years old, actually participated in the Lee County Sheriff’s Office program, Sheriff For A Day, too.
“I got to be with my friends, I got to do some fun stuff, too,” Cole said. “I liked the K9 demo.”
Cole said he wants to be a “SWAT Sheriff” when he grows up. Cole attended the program dressed in his own “SWAT gear.” He was known as “SWAT” by both leaders and attendees of the program.
“I think protecting the cities, and towns and Opelika state is nice,” Cole said, adding that the job is hard. “… Because you got to fight crime … I’m most looking forward to learning about training and being a good officer and protecting the city always.”
Madison Dean has been attending the program for eight years and now serves as a class leader and photographer. She is going into 11th grade but started in the fourth grade.
“I’m going to go into the Air Force after I graduate, and then once I retire out of the Air Force, I plan on coming [to Lee County] and being a school resource officer,” Dean said.
Dean said the program has expanded over the years to offer more.
“I like how they teach the kids more than more; every year they evolve on their program and give them more to see, so they can do SWAT demos, and bite dog demos and all these demos so they learn what it’s all about,” she said.
