|
TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Oahu executives
get tangled up in blueYour boss or colleague may have spent some time at the main police station last night getting up close and personal with Honolulu's finest. But after a couple hours, they were free to go.
Last night was the first meeting of the Honolulu Police Department's Business Police Academy and its 18 students from industries including banking, insurance and private security. Students will gather for about two hours every Wednesday night for eight weeks.
The success of the Honolulu Police Department's Citizens Police Academy and Youth Citizens Police Academy led to an expansion of the class to the business community.
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Major Mark Nakagawa talked to business professionals at the Honolulu Police Department's Business Police Academy headquarters last night.
The Business Police Academy will be geared more specifically toward its audience, said Criminal Investigation Division Major Mark Nakagawa.
"It's primarily to educate people in the business community as to what kinds of crimes can impact them ... and the ways to help prevent those crimes from happening."
The HPD Finance Division helped prepare curriculum on crimes most likely to impact businesses, such as employee theft, robberies, counterfeiting, credit card and check fraud and identity theft.
There is also instruction on "crime prevention through environmental design," Nakagawa said, explaining that crimes can be deterred through the layout of a company's physical plant. Classes will also cover security alarm systems, workplace violence, how to survive a hostage situation and counter terrorism measures, Nakagawa said.
Educational partners include the FBI and U.S. Secret Service as well as ASIS International, a security industry trade organization.
Students are in for a great ride, according to Sue Ellen Bader, a graduate of the traditional Citizens Police Academy.
"I'm so very impressed. I really couldn't say enough about that class."
Bader is an employee in HPD's Informational Resource Section who says she learned more about the department and the way it works in her 11-week course than in two years working there.
She signed up for the class so she could do a better job. "I truly learned a lot about the police department and I appreciate it more."
Bader's instructors included officials from various divisions and districts within the department. "You come out of there and begin to appreciate your police department in a different way."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
