The business police academy commercial loss prevention through education. and the business police academy - citizen police academies CPAs - BPA

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, Jan, 2003 by Giant Abutalebi Aryani, Carl L. Alsabrook, Terry D. Garrett

During the past two decades, many law enforcement agencies successfully have implemented citizen police academies (CPAs) for the mutual benefit of their departments and the communities they serve. Building on this success, another innovative community policing program, the business police academy (BPA), has emerged. BPAs' benefits to law enforcement agencies and business communities clearly outweigh the costs of their implementation and operation. Although information on how to implement and operate a BPA is not as readily available as material on a CPA, the concepts are similar. Agencies can apply the experience and lessons learned from CPAs to BPAs in their communities.

CONCEPT

The BPA, a cooperative educational effort teaming law enforcement and the business community, represents a different version of a CPA. A BPA strives to ensure a productive exchange of information between businesses and law enforcement, which leads to an increased awareness of potential criminal activity and, as a result, to a reduction in crimes against businesses.

The implementation of a BPA follows the same steps as beginning a CPA. (2) Nonetheless, the BPA differs in three major areas: the targeted audience, the curriculum, and the instructors.

Audience

The targeted audience for a BPA is the business community within the respective jurisdiction. Unlike the CPA, where students ideally represent a cross section of the community, the BPA only includes students who are members of the business arena, such as owners, managers, and employees. It encompasses all commercial enterprises, such as retail stores, banks, restaurants, garages, and office complexes.

BPA students should live or work within the particular jurisdiction, be at least 21 years of age, and maintain a good standing in the community. Agencies should disqualify applicants with prior felony convictions. They should select students from various types of businesses for the first BPA class, which will ensure maximum publicity and help in future BPA recruitment as well. Agencies should accommodate business needs, such as location and schedule of classes and, at the end of the academy, hold a graduation ceremony for graduates' families, agency administrators, city or county officials, representatives from the local chamber of commerce, and officials from volunteer organizations. Agencies should encourage graduates to display their graduation certificates at their places of business to promote publicity for the BPA. (3) A positive educational experience for business representatives benefits both the agency and the business community.

Curriculum

A CPA provides students with a basic overview of diverse law enforcement topics. (4) On the other hand, a BPA seeks to reduce crimes against businesses; therefore, the curriculum should cover, in-depth, topics specific to the business community. (5) Crimes covered include those commonly committed against businesses, as well as related information for understanding and responding to them.

Lectures should include demonstrations, facility tours, role-plays, and simulations, when appropriate. Videos, slides, audio cassettes, overheads, and posters serve as additional tools to aid in the learning experience. Instructors should relay first-hand experiences and allow enough time for questions, which sustains the cooperative atmosphere. They should stress the cost of the respective types of crimes against businesses and how to alleviate it. This emphasis serves the business community's interest of reducing the cost of running a business, and it keeps the audience attentive.

Instructors

A BPA requires a program coordinator with program management tasks similar to a CPA's. However, the majority of CPA instructors work for the hosting police department and introduce their students to that agency's officers. (6) This may not prove the same with a BPA, especially with small and midsize agencies. The nature and depth of the covered classes require agencies to recruit expert individuals outside of the department to maintain the quality of lectures and to help the academy achieve its goal. For example, officials of the local chamber of commerce can deliver the overview of the area's business structure. Economic or criminal justice academicians familiar with the jurisdiction may present issues, such as crime statistics and reporting, as well as the economics and cost of crime. Agencies can invite district attorney representatives and the local justice of the peace or small claims court judge to acquaint the audience with such legal issues as the processes of prosecution and restitution.

Representatives of major retail stores with successful results on pursuing shoplifting and decreasing employee theft also can teach these subjects. Additionally, employees from the Secret Service can teach students about counterfeiting, and the FBI can instruct on bank robbery and kidnapping. Officers from nearby major law enforcement agencies with specialized units for a variety of crime categories can educate the audience on topics, such as embezzlement, identity theft, fencing, extortion, and organized crime. Employees from other federal and state agencies, as well as specially trained citizen volunteers, can augment the available resource pool of instructors.