Summer 2025 Junior Police Camp Registration Form

Camp Wiaver of Liabilty, Code of Conduct, and Medical Authorization

MOULTRIE — For youth who are interested in learning about law enforcement, the Junior Police Officer Academy will be held at Southern Regional Technical College this summer.

This summer camp, for ages 12 to 18, is June 24-26, and the deadline to register is June 10. The camp is free, but spaces are limited. The camp hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, and breakfast, snacks, lunch and drinks are provided.

Camp Coordinator Benjie Nobles, an instructor in Criminal Justice Technology at SRTC, said the first Junior Police Officer Academy Camp was held in 2023. It was started as a way to get young people interested in law enforcement, he said.

“With some of the vacancies and some of the issues that, unfortunately, we’ve seen, we thought that, in order to fill the vacancies, in order to think about the future of law enforcement, that we had to start getting individuals interested in it,” he also said.

Nobles said they did not get enough students to have the camp in 2024, so they were trying again, this year.

“It’s going to be three days where city, state, county law enforcement from the Moultrie Police Department, Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office, GBI, Georgia State Patrol, Motor Carriers Compliance, DNR and the Fire Marshal’s Office immerse the students in a small version of their academies and what they do specialize in on a daily basis,” said Nobles.

“We want to take these kids and say, ‘Law enforcement, as a whole, is here. Find what you enjoy about it and I will promise you, there is a division that can accommodate,’” said Camp Coordinator Ofc. Dustin Harrell with the Georgia Department of Public Safety. “You can read about all that we do online but if you can take a day, a week, however long, and get a hands-on, front-row seat, you can find your niche.”

Nobles said the Georgia Department of Corrections and the Georgia Department of Community Supervision were also involved with the camp and would be sending individuals to make presentations to the campers.

“So, from a criminal justice instructor point of view, what we want to do is take them from the time someone commits a crime to the time they are released from prison or released from supervision,” he said.

He also said that they will take the students through the criminal justice system with all of the agencies that were involved and how they were involved.

“So, we try to take them from the moment 911 is called to the time of release from the system and say, ‘Somewhere, in there, you can find a avenue that excites you,’” said Harrell.

Nobles said they want to have an impact on the future of practitioners of criminal justice and garner interest, in the students in the community, in a career in law enforcement.

Harrell said “community policing” was a misunderstood phrase out in the community. He said it meant officers having a relationship with the community that they police.

“The whole point of hiring from your community is that you are helping people you know. Your neighbor, your school teacher from high school, the cafeteria lady, your aunt. Regardless of who, this is your neighborhood,” he said. “So, you’re going to put a lot of care into it because it is where you live and it’s where your family lives.”

Nobles said there would be a time of dispelling myths about law enforcement that have been portrayed on television. Each agency will dispel myths about its day-to-day operations, he said.

He also said it would consist of classroom instruction and practical exercises. Each agency will do a presentation and then provide a practical exercise to walk the students through, hands-on, he said.

He said the agencies would also each bring some of their specific technology that they use to show the campers and stress the importance of technology.

Nobles said the campers would learn valuable skills like problem-solving and how to make decisions.

Harrell added, “And see how agencies cooperate and work together. Interact.”

Students should wear clothes that they wear to physical education classes as physical activities will be included like running an obstacle course.

Nobles said all of the agencies involved were helping to sponsor the Junior Police Academy, as well as the Moultrie Colquitt County First Responders Association. Harrell added that they wanted to thank Clements Printing for sponsoring and doing the flyers for them.

“It’s going to be fun and exciting,” he said.

Harrell said their goal was to have the camp continue to grow from year-to-year and inspire students to want to pursue careers in law enforcement.

“And all of our communities that we love start gaining good, new officers,” he added.

Students can register at SRTC in the Criminal Justice Department or any one of the agencies involved, said Nobles. Applicants can also print out the registration forms on The Observer’s website in the article posted online.