Crime & Safety

Local Teens Learn Riot, Crowd Control and Rescue Drills

29 Students are enrolled in the inaugural Tri-Morris Junior Academy. They graduate on July 19.

A section of Fanok Road in Morris Township was blocked off and several police car sirens could be heard for a good part of Wednesday afternoon.

“Move Back, Move Back, Move Back …” was shouted in unison by a group of eighth-graders, most of whom will be entering Morristown High School this fall.  This was part of a riot control drill for the teens enrolled in the inaugural Tri-Morris Junior Police Academy.

The academy is open to graduated eighth-graders in Morristown, Morris Township and Morris Plains. Twenty-nine are enrolled in the two-week program that started this week: three from Unity Charter School, four from St. Virgil Academy, one from Borough School and 21 fromFrelinghuysen Middle School.

Find out what's happening in Morris Township-Morris Plainswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Wednesday’s activities started with a video of a local example of riot control with a white supremacy group from years ago. That followed with drills on how to contain a crowd and how to rescue an unconscious officer from a police car surrounded by an unruly crowd. Check out two of the videos above of their training.

The students learned specific formations and wore actual police helmets and gear. For the rescue mission, officers drove a few students up to the police car with the “unconscious” officer. The teens got out and safely transferred the teen posing as the “unconscious” officer into their vehicle before driving off. While all this was going on, the other teens had to re-enact an unruly mob by lobbing plastic water bottles.

Find out what's happening in Morris Township-Morris Plainswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Ptl. Heather Jones of the Crime Prevention Unit of Morris Township Police Dept, Officer DeAnna Dietrich of the Morristown Police Department and Sgt Michael Koroski of the Morris Plains Police Department got the ball rolling with this academy and recruited interested eighth-graders from schools in their towns through presentations.

Read more about the academy in this Patch article.

“Officer Anthony O’Brien, he trains as an MMA fighter and we’re doing defensive tactics with them on Friday. (They’ll learn what to do) if they ever get in a situation where they have to protect themselves,” said Jones.

Other experiences they will be exposed to as part of this academy include a tour of the Morris County Correctional Facility, analyzing a simulated car accident and getting a chance to chat with Detective Ken Hogan, who was shot in the head while assigned to Irvington Police.

The students' graduation is July 19.

Check out the video interviews above with two of the students: Regina Gopon, 14, of Denville and Sebastian Arias, 16 of Morristown.


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