DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709140079

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   80 lines

ACADEMY FOR CIVILIANS TO HELP SUFFOLK POLICE REACH OUT TO RESIDENTS THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO FOSTER AN UNDERSTANDING OF POLICE WORK.

When Wilhelmenia Delk spots something she believes police need to know, it's ``dial, dial, dial.''

Joseph E. ``Jack'' Brantley Jr. shares her approach, and he urges his neighbors to pick up the phone, too.

Delk, who moved to the Burnetts Mills neighborhood about a year ago, and Brantley, an active member and past president of the West End Neighborhood Association, are among 20 citizens signed up for Suffolk's first Citizens Police Academy.

The 40 hours of training, which is free and will start Tuesday, will teach citizens about law enforcement and how they can assist police. ``If we want safe neighborhoods, if we want to be able to walk around in the streets and have kids play, we have to get involved,'' Delk said.

Years ago, Delk called police when she found a syringe near her apartment complex in Norfolk. She agreed to report the license numbers of cars at a nearby house where police suspected drug deals were taking place.

Later, when she lived in Chesapeake, she called whenever her neighbor, a policeman, fought with his wife.

She doesn't know what happened to the feuding spouses because she moved. But she hopes she helped reduce the drug trade in her former neighborhood.

Brantley believes the academy will foster relations between the community and the police.

``We realize they're understaffed and their demands are increasing as Suffolk grows,'' he said.

He remembers growing up on Brewer Avenue, where nobody locked houses or cars. Seeing a police car in the neighborhood then was unusual, he said.

But police now regularly patrol the streets near his Linden Avenue home and in neighborhoods throughout Suffolk, and the officers have been supportive of his group's anti-crime fight.

Ultimately, Brantley hopes to emulate a bicycle patrol started this summer by residents of Hall Place, another neighborhood near downtown. The bicyclists ride through the neighborhood each evening, keeping a sharp eye out for potential problems. They also believe the patrols help them get to know one another better.

``The more cohesive we are, the better crime watchers we're going to be,'' said Brantley, who grew up in Suffolk, moved away for 30 years, then returned after retiring.

Encouraging residents to get involved is the key to helping fight crime in the city, he said.

``At least when you pass through the neighborhood, be attentive to what's going on,'' he said.

But many are hesitant to get involved, even refusing to call police when something is stolen from their property, Brantley said.

By supporting one another, the residents can provide a safer community, he said.

Each of the other police departments in South Hampton Roads offers a Citizens Police Academy.

Those enrolled in Suffolk's inaugural session range from young adults to retirees and include civic league leaders, a schoolteacher and a Norfolk resident who owns a business in Suffolk. Police Chief Jimmy L. Wilson hopes each will become an ambassador.

Wilson, who initiated the local academy, had organized similar sessions in other cities before becoming head of the Suffolk department in January.

Civic involvement is vital to his dedication to community policing.

Instructors will teach about various aspects of law enforcement: patrol techniques, searches, arrests, and investigations of accidents, drugs, homicides, rapes, robbery, arson and internal complaints.

The four-week classes, to be held at police headquarters, will focus on community policing and Neighborhood Watch programs.

Class members will tour the communications center at police headquarters and take field trips to the pistol range, the Western Tidewater Regional Jail and an underwater recovery exhibition.

While the academy will not provide any advantage to police job candidates, the training is designed to make better police partners.

Being a team player makes Delk feel like she is helping in the anti-crime effort. ``I think, as citizens, we have to back our policemen,'' she said. ``They're as good as we allow them to be.'' MEMO: Suffolk police plan to repeat the academy in spring and fall each

year, although definite dates have not been set. To enroll, call

925-6357.

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