For Immediate Release

News Release
Richmond Police Recruiting for Citizen Academy

Sept. 16, 2009
If you have ever wondered what it takes to become a Richmond Police officer or how the Richmond Police Department operates, now is your chance to find out.

Richmond Police will offer an eight-week Citizen Police Academy for those interested in learning about the Richmond Police Department’s personnel, goals, community policing strategies and law enforcement-related topics.

There will be seven, two-hour classes held every Thursday, beginning Oct. 1 through Nov. 19. Classes will be held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Richmond Police Training Academy, 1202 W. Graham Road. The academy concludes the eighth week with a graduation ceremony.

The Citizen Police Academy instruction will cover different areas of the Department provided by expert guest instructors from area law enforcement agencies as well as certified police officers. The courses are diverse and range from the Department’s organizational structure to forensics, criminal investigation, narcotics and firearms.

Anyone who lives or works in Richmond can attend the academy. You must be at least 18 years old with no felony convictions. Misdemeanor convictions will be reviewed and considered by Chief Bryan T. Norwood. The deadline to register for the academy is Tuesday, Sept. 29. Space is limited.

“The best way our citizens can help us help them is for them to learn what we do, how we do it and why we do it,” Chief Norwood said. “That’s the purpose of the citizen academy.”

Persons interested in registering may contact Citizen Police Academy Coordinator GiTonya L. Parker at 646-7648.

The Richmond Times Dispatch reports:

A Richmond city councilman’s nephew is being held without bond today in the malicious wounding of a Virginia Union University student early Sunday.

Jamir Lee Jewell, whose uncle is Councilman E. Martin Jewell, was arrested Sunday about 1:15 a.m. — minutes after a student was shot in front of Newman Hall, an all-female dormitory on the northern edge of campus near Brook and Graham roads. Jamir Jewell is not a VUU student.

University police confirmed yesterday that the shooting occurred as they tried to deal with a crowd that had grown to as many as three dozen people.

“I really have to hand the credit to our people for the way they reacted,” VUU Police Chief David Horace said, noting that one officer stationed in a guard shack about 30 yards from Newman Hall called for reinforcements as the crowd grew more unruly. “It could have been much worse,” the chief said.

At least a half-dozen students have been shot or stabbed on or near the VUU campus in the past decade, according to news reports. The school has sought for years to control access to the campus, especially from nearby neighborhoods with histories of violence. A fence encircling the campus is under construction.

Campuswide alerts were not sent to the university community until nearly an hour after the shooting.

Two of the three school officers responding to the crowd are not authorized to carry weapons, Horace said.

Jewell, 21, could receive up to 23 years in prison if convicted on a malicious-wounding charge and an accompanying firearms charge. He made a brief appearance yesterday in Richmond General District Court and said he will retain his own attorney. A hearing was set for Sept. 11.

VUU officials declined to release the identity of the student who suffered three gunshot wounds to his left leg. He was expected to be released from the hospital shortly.

Martin Jewell said the news of the arrest of his sister’s son was a shock to him, but he declined any further comment. His nephew lives in the 800 block of West Lancaster Road, a few blocks from the university.