Nearly three dozen high school students were detained last week, courtesy of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office. And Cullman County is better off for it — and not because those 34 teens are now facing adjudication of charges. But because they weren’t.

Now in its sixth edition, a program aimed at allowing students to gain an up-close look at the inner workings of law enforcement — a weeklong program of core value education and hands-on training that culminates in a graduation ceremony — the endeavor is producing visible results.

What was originally an idea to “give kids who had more than likely had only negative or even no experience with law enforcement a better perspective on it at a young age,” according to CCSO Director of Communications Chad Whaley, has turned into an unplanned recruiting tool. At least seven program graduates over the years were so impressed with they saw and learned there, they’ve signed on to careers within the sheriff’s office.

This grassroots program is proactive policing at its best — and a decisive step forward in advance of other initiatives, such as the Scared Straight crisis intervention program so proliferate in the 1970s and still active today in parts of the nation. A well-done to the CCSO and those students who chose to take part of the program. The resources wisely expended and the lessons learned will no doubt continue to positively influence our community.