More than 80 Cullman County residents will spend the next several weeks getting a close look at local law enforcement as part of the the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office Citizens Academy.

The nine-week program, which kicked off Tuesday night, takes enrollees on a walk through various aspects of the work that the sheriff’s office does in Cullman County, including ride alongs with deputies, firearms safety, a tour of the detention center, forensics work, a SWAT team demonstration, along with classroom lectures from deputies and state and federal law enforcement agencies that work with the sheriff’s office.

The guest speaker was Korean War veteran Norman Hale, who spent 33 months as a prisoner of war in a Chinese prison camp. He spoke about his experiences as a POW — including a months-long death march through the mountains of North Korea, surviving for the entire time on cracked corn and having to bury some of his fellow prisoners who didn’t make it home — but he also shared a message of his faith that helped him through those months and his love for America.

Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry said the Citizens Academy program, which he started in 2015, is meant to introduce the residents of Cullman County to the deputies who live and work alongside them every day.

“You get to know your deputies,” he said. “And that’s what sets deputy sheriffs apart, is that they are engrossed with the people. We are part of the community, we just do a different job.”

Gentry said deputies have to know their communities to be able to help the people there, and letting the people of Cullman County get some first-hand experience with the deputies who are patrolling their neighborhoods will help both the sheriff’s office and the community.

Residents already show great support to the sheriff’s office, and the Citizens Academy will only strengthen that bond and improve the lives of everyone in Cullman County, he said.

“None of us are perfect, but if we work together to continue to build and do what we need to to make each other better and this community better, then we’re strong,” he said. “And that’s really what this is about.”