Week 15, part 3 (cancelled portion)—Revision to CPAAA FAQs.

 

Assignment: Revision to CPAAA FAQs. Our instructor cancelled this portion of the assignment, but I guess I can’t accept the conclusion of this class.

CPAAA FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions
About Durham’s Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association

We’ve solicited questions from members of our organization, graduates of the Durham Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academies and visitors to our site in order to anticipate and answer questions about the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA). Please look over the questions and answers to learn more about the CPAAA. Should you need further information, please contact us at the links below.

• What is the CPAAA?
• What does the CPAAA do?
• Why should I join the CPAAA?
• When and where does the CPAAA meet?
• How about a suggestion for the CPAAA?
• What will the CPAAA expect of me?
• Where can I find the CPAAA’s Mission Statement?
• What about the CPAAA’s Constitution & Bylaws?
• How do I join the CPAAA?
• Who runs the CPAAA?
• Who can answer more CPAAA questions?

---

• What is the CPAAA?
  The Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA) consists of persons who have graduated from a Durham Citizens’ Police Academy and who have paid (or will pay) their dues to CPAAA for the current year. While the Durham Police Department does provide meeting space and a departmental liaison to the CPAAA, the DPD and the city of Durham do not provide monetary support to the organization. Monies collected from membership dues and raised through special fundraising projects help fund the CPAAA and its activities. (FAQ list)
• What does the CPAAA do?
  The CPAAA supports the Durham Police Department in ways appropriate for citizen volunteers. This may include being part of the Citizens’ Police Academy experience for new students, assisting the DPD with community outreach events, and a wide variety of community projects designed to enhance and uplift citizens’ perceptions about the Durham Police Department. (FAQ list)
• Why should I join the CPAAA?
  Joining the CPAAA is a rewarding way to extend your Citizens’ Police Academy experience. Beyond the social aspects, it’s a way of saying, “Thank you,” to the men and women risking their lives to protect and serve Durham’s citizens. It also provides opportunities for members to put their varied talents to good use. And CPAAA offers a means to volunteer and reach out to others in the community. Your efforts on behalf of the Durham Police Department provide useful and worthwhile ways to show your appreciation for the DPD’s work protecting you and enhancing your quality of life. (FAQ list)
• When and where does the CPAAA meet?
  CPAAA meets the first Monday of every month at 7 PM (with the exception of those Mondays that are legal holidays or may fall within an extended holiday period, including New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day) in the Community Room of the Durham Police Department. Occasionally, special meetings or events are also held (to arrange details for a community outreach project or fundraiser, for example). (FAQ list)
• How about a suggestion for the CPAAA?
  Your constructive ideas are welcome and will be treated with respect. Let us know how we can help you and serve our city better. (FAQ list)
• What will the CPAAA expect of me?
  Dues are $10 per year, payable in January or when you join CPAAA. Attendance at meetings and participation in community outreach projects are voluntary, but your presence shows your support of CPAAA. That’s about it, unless you wish to coordinate a special project or work on a committee. (FAQ list)
• Where can I find the CPAAA’s Mission Statement?
  It’s short and sweet and yours for the viewing right here. (FAQ list)
• What about the CPAAA’s Constitution & Bylaws?
  You won’t find short and sweet, but you will find all the official information about the CPAAA here. (FAQ list)
• How do I join the CPAAA?
  All Citizens’ Police Academy graduates are eligible for membership in the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association. We hope you’ll decide to join us in this always-interesting group. (FAQ list)
• Who runs the CPAAA?
  Officers of the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association include Rebekah Radisch: president, Virginia Williams: vice president, Michael Perry: treasurer, and Phyllis Carrington: secretary. Terms last two years and the next election for officers takes place Monday, December 3, 2007, at 7 PM. All members in good standing are eligible to stand for election. Durham Police Corporal Felisa Francis is the DPD liaison to the CPAAA. (FAQ list)
• Who can answer more CPAAA questions?
  For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy and Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association, please contact Durham Police Department Corporal Felisa Francis at 919-560-4440, extension 261, or by e-mail. You may also contact current CPAAA President Rebekah Radisch at 919-201-1183, or by e-mail. Or, better yet, just show up at 7 PM the first Monday of the month at the Durham Police Department’s downtown Durham headquarters, located at 505 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham NC 27701. (FAQ list)
  

---

Anything Else About the CPAAA?

Just let us know. Please e-mail us with any questions inadvertently overlooked. We will post responses here. In the meantime, we look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association!

Click for help or questions!

Week 15, Part 1—How JOMC 711 Changed My Writing & Understanding of Digital Environments

Assignments

1. Write an end-of-semester blog post that catalogs, explores and details how your writing for and understanding of digital environments have changed. Specifically:

• Discuss how your writing has changed since the beginning of the course
• What you have learned in the course that you think will prove most useful going forward
• What unanswered questions remain for you
• How this course could be enhanced, improved, changed (be brutal!)
• What the instructor could perhaps do to better facilitate maximum learning

This post is important, and it determines 10% of your final course grade. You will not, however, be penalized in any way for honesty; quite the contrary. You have the instructor’s word on that.

Effects of JOMC 711 Writing for Digital Media on My Writing & Understanding of Digital Environments

With a background in advertising copywriting, I always attempt to consider to whom and for whom I write. Because of the exercises in this course, I now think more about how an audience will perceive my writing. My increased awareness of jargon and clichés leads me to reconsider their usage, and I avoid them unless I actually wish to use them with intention. This concept of intention is an important one and this class accentuated my awareness of it. Instead of just writing what seems to come naturally, I learned that such writing was not necessarily natural, but easy. I also discovered that easy writing often means lazy writing. By using phrases that require little thought, they, in fact, convey little meaning. Now I intend to write better. I consider word choices, clarity of thought and logical flow of the writing. Now more than ever, it’s all about the audience. Not just writing to them but writing for them—writing as them.

I appreciate the feedback I’ve received as it helps reinforce my feeling that I can be a good writer if I apply myself to the tasks. Going forward from this course, the elements that I expect to prove most useful include the broader mindset of thinking not just to whom I write but how members of the audiences will use my writing.

In my writing work over the last several years, I have occasionally resisted (if not resented) well-meaning suggestions to:

• write shorter,
• break up my writing, and
• use lists and bullets.

Such suggestions seemed to come from people either unaware or unappreciative of my efforts to craft beautiful prose. Growing up, my most frequent visits to any single book consisted of weekly readings from the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. While it contains some beautiful turns of phrase, I must admit that it can seem heavy on the redundancy and light on the relevancy to modern readers. Over the years, and especially over this course, I now believe that successful communicating works best when readers actually grasp the writers’ words. Reading back over that line, such an epiphany seems obvious and silly. Still, instead of resenting what I once saw as rude readers unwilling to marvel at my words, and thinking, “it’s their loss,” I realize that if my goal is to convey an idea, then it’s my loss if I’m unsuccessful. I now welcome opportunities to write shorter, find simpler ways to share my thoughts, use lists and bullets and other methods to provide readers with quick support for or further explanation of my point(s).

After giving much thought to any questions left unanswered following completion of this course, the one that lingers longest, and may be the hardest to resolve, concerns a question of style. While we explored “Knowing Your Audience and Developing a Style” in Module Week 7, the bulk of that module centered on such important factors as organizing and planning, understanding audiences and utilizing or developing a style guide. These are all vital to creating content that meets basic audience desires, but how does one determine if a “style” of writing will play well with a given audience? Over the last several years I’ve read the Sunday New York Times and my opinion of that edition of the paper has diminished. I used to think it offered a welcome glimpse into a slice of life that I once aspired to achieve and in fact, at times, enjoyed. Now, however, I find the writing (especially in the Sunday Styles and Arts & Leisure sections) rather precious and celebratory of the trivial and vapid excesses of over-rewarded but well-connected social climbers. I end up grumbling about misplaced priorities of both the paper and the city. I also find that I have little patience for hipster talk on websites. Sure, to my recurring surprise I’m not in my 30s anymore and realize I’m fulfilling my destiny as a curmudgeon, but I’ve read several articles in print and on the Web sites and my concluding thoughts centered more around versions of “idiotic child” instead of the deep reflection the author presumably intended. Can self-conscious style that detracts from the point do as much or more harm than just bad writing? Instead of just damaging credibility, as in the case of the latter, the former can leave readers resentful.

Speaking of style, at what point should one utilize such standards, as outlined in the Associated Press Stylebook or Chicago Manual of Style, or forge boldly on with one’s own style? I realize and appreciate that consistency is vital, but in my work occasionally come across little issues that vex me. For example, in titles, besides first, last and important words, AP style suggests capitalizing words of four or more letters. Most of my co-workers believe in capitalizing only first, last and important words in titles (lowercasing such words such as “from” or “with”). I feel that some of our new technology words should be treated a bit more as words and not special constructions: the internet, web (or world wide web), online, email, fax, for example. I don’t understand the capitalization and hyphenating of words that are not proper nouns or trademarks. It seems as if this mysterious technology overwhelms writers, resulting in more exotic spellings than our everyday words. I expect that with time, this too shall pass. I don’t mind standing on my own with some of these style issues, but sometimes someone somewhere named a public television program in a fashion unlike mine. Usually, I just change it to fit my style, but it can get messy. For example, in the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, I let it keep the capital H in the invented word NewsHour, but unlike the technical title, I capitalize the W in With. If I didn’t, wouldn’t it look odd and inconsistent? Do I junk AP style and give in to popular conventions of lowercasing the unimportant words, regardless of length? Maybe I should, but I do appreciate having a published guide upon which I can tap my finger to substantiate my rationale to questioning peers.

Brutally speaking, cloning the instructor could enhance, improve or change this course. Realizing that’s not currently an option, I find the course managed satisfactorily. I typically put a lot of effort into my homework assignments, sometimes delaying or forgetting meals and sleep. Upon completion of a week’s assignment I’m pretty well spent, and find it initially hard to gear up for the new week. I eagerly anticipate feedback to my assignments each day following their submission. As the week progresses, with no feedback, my confidence erodes a bit. Then, upon receiving a response, the points of criticism recharge me, either with satisfaction at my work or with a desire to improve next time. I realize the enormity of the task facing our instructor and don’t envy him a bit. Given the daunting load, of coursework and homework and the discussion bits in between, I wonder if incorporating teaching assistants would prove useful. I’m undecided as to whether this would help or hinder the course. I find the personalized attention provided by the instructors to all students most valuable and worry that adding intermediaries might engender less direct interaction between students and instructors. Such an outcome would be highly regrettable. In previous classes, I found the readings oppressive in their bulk and depth. In this course, however, the instructor quickly discounted such murmurs of dissatisfaction (I believe he referred to them as “whining”) and stressed that we enrolled, after all, in graduate level courses. This reminder helped me better appreciate the territory in which I enrolled.

As far as facilitating maximum learning, the only suggestion that occurs to me is that the instructor may wish to record some lectures to enhance the materials covered by and offered in his very useful Writing for Digital Media Study Book and Syllabus. Lectures offered by Serena Fenton in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication Visual Communication and Web Design class provided a helpful view of sometimes challenging topics. The ability to follow along with her and to replay portions on demand aided in the comprehension of the materials.

Finally, the nature of online distance education (as opposed to, say, watching a French class privately on educational television) could appear a bit cold and callous. Its merits, however, exceed any negative aspects. In the virtual classroom, students and faculty can interact freely, becoming acquainted with personalities based on the quality of posts, not physical appearances or other superficial characteristics. Some students are junior professors, some are charmingly young and some are wise with age and experience. Just as in the brick and mortar classroom, relationships in ether environments grow, but unlike the physical model, our virtual alliances seem more fleeting. By now, after three online courses, I am acquainted with several of my classmates, but I cannot predict if we will continue our communications upon completion of the Certificate. While the open houses offered at the beginning of each semester help ground these relationships in reality, an end of class party for those who can attend—and for those who cannot, virtually through postings on Blackboard, for example—could provide a certain closure for the class (or maybe I just need to get a Second Life).

Week 15, Part 2—Theory Exercise

2. Write a post taking one of the theories (or bodies of theory) discussed during the course and applying it to writing for your organization or publication. Examples: Apply semiotics in describing how content is presented in a corporate intranet. Discuss how hypertext subverts structure in a e-zine (online magazine), disrupting or preventing a traditional narrative reading. Length: 700 words

Usability Strategies in Creating Content for the Durham Police Department Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association

Each assignment in my Writing for Digital Media class posed challenges, and not just because that’s the nature of an assignment. The organization about which I created online content this semester, the Durham Police Department (DPD) Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA), had no online presence whatsoever prior to my class.

In tackling the assignments, I needed to consider the audiences I hoped to reach. The CPAAA tends to utilize traditional modes of communication. Many of the active members are older citizens not familiar and/or comfortable with the Internet. Those who do have some experience with it do not use it regularly. A member personally telephones all active members the weekend before a meeting to remind them of the upcoming meeting. The attendance sheet does not include a place to write an email address. Many of the members are older and less familiar and/or comfortable with online opportunities for supporting the organization. Still, the potential audience of members, graduates of the DPD Citizens’ Police Academy (CPA) exceeds 600 unique citizens. Additionally, the Web site offers the potential to increase awareness about the existence of CPAAA and CPA to community members and members of the DPD.

The primary rationale behind my content design and decisions ultimately came down to usability. While the CPAAA’s core consists of the few and the faithful, our group’s longevity depends on attracting new, dues-paying members. Using site development strategies outlined in Module Week 5 of our class Study Book and Syllabus, I sought to answer many of the questions posed in the book, focusing on the direction credited to Steve Krug and his sensible.com site. I had to think about how to build content that required little thinking on the part of visitors. It needed to be self-evident, from the title and introduction through each section, including the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section. I needed to provide clear contact information and invite questions, comments, suggestions and other feedback. The content needed to look professional and businesslike, but it needed to read clearly and simply. The site needed to inspire interest and solicit this mild but vital form of positive community activism. Finally, the site needed to be easily navigable, logically flowing from section to section and thought to thought, but still able for each section to stand alone so that the casual observer still could absorb important points.

Usability seems a basic concept, but in my own online experiences, I find many sites seem to overlook how visitors use their sites. Often Flash and splash pages create a barrier between the user and the desired content, sending would-be readers away. If one indeed gets about three seconds to catch or lose a visitor, then first impressions really do matter. The site content I created informs visitors exactly what and who makes up the CPAAA. Through its topics, the information conveys both the mission and related activities. Perspectives concerning the importance of the CPAAA come from testimonial-like interviews from the DPD chief, its former chief, a departmental liaison and a longtime member. Visitors can find the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section and contact information without confusion or exertion. Hyperlinks offer easy access to longer, dryer information—about the group’s mission statement, constitution and bylaws.

Because the group lacks a large membership, and its active members tend to find themselves overextended, the CPAAA site needs to require little maintenance. The content, therefore, needed to consist of “evergreen” information (content that avoids becoming too dated too fast).

Throughout my assignments, in the content I created for a CPAAA Web site, navigation existed on several levels. Organization of content needed ordering in an understandable way. Links needed to exist to provide more information, but they needed judicious use. Likewise, graphics could help illuminate an idea or section of content, but they needed restraint so as not to overwhelm the page.

By considering usability issues and questions (including some basics of accessibility) and attempting to answer them, my goal to create an easy-to-navigate, informative and useful resource is on its way to realization. The positive reaction from members of the Durham Police Department (including the DPD’s current and former chiefs) and CPAAA both encourages and gratifies.

Week 15, Part 3—Final Edits of Original Reporting Piece & Press Release

Week 15 Assignment, Part 3–Revisions to Original Reporting Piece

——————————————————-
Book Reading/Author Appearance
Brett Webb-Mitchell
Follow Me: Christian Growth on the Pilgrim’s Way
Quail Ridge Books—Raleigh, NC
7 PM, Wednesday, November 1, 2006
——————————————————-

Follow Me to Brett Webb-MItchell’s Book Reading
I’d read a notice that a local Presbyterian minister, Brett Webb-Mitchell, would be reading from his new book, Follow Me: Christian Growth on the Pilgrim’s Way at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. Since I am a certified pilgrim, I expected an interesting evening. I was not disappointed.

In a time when independent booksellers are few and far between all the Border’s, Barnes & Nobles and other big box bookstores, Quail Ridge offers booklovers an expansive selection and lots of literary activities without the coffee shops, high-speed Internet connections and social atmosphere found in the chain stores.

After purchasing a copy of the book ($16), I settled into one of the uncomfortable resin lawn chairs scattered about for the event. The audience consisted of about 50 mostly middle-aged people, many of whom knew each other and most of whom seemed to know the author. As it turned out many current parishioners from the author’s Raleigh church, and some former ones from his previous church in Durham, were in attendance.

A Lifelong Pilgrimage
Wearing a crisp yellow oxford cloth shirt over what appeared to be a fresh undershirt, Webb-Mitchell looked less like a road-weary pilgrim than the university professor that he sometimes is. Greeted with a warm welcome from the hometown crowd, Webb-Mitchell began his address by noting that he was speaking on All Saints Day and acknowledged those unknown saints whose footsteps he now follows. He revealed what he called a truth: that Christian life is indeed a lifelong pilgrimage.

Webb-Mitchell spoke of his own road to becoming a pilgrim. The first step, he said, consists of going forward and, at the time, it may seem unremarkable. He then described all the elements that combined to make that first step to emphasize the importance of simply stepping off as a pilgrim. The bulk of Webb-Mitchell’s reading consisted of abbreviated passages of the four pivotal pilgrimages detailed at length in his book.

“The Waiting Spirit Who Silently Accompanies Me on This Trek”
Webb-Mitchell’s first pilgrim anecdote detailed his first pilgrimage: accompanying 35 men between the ages of 13 and 62 on a six-day, 125-mile trek to Chimayo, New Mexico. He said this destination is considered the Lourdes of the Americas where pilgrims go to be healed of physical, mental and spiritual ailments. As he speaks, I recall seeing such pilgrims walking near the highway as I drove between Albuquerque and Santa Fe during my last visit to New Mexico, long before I ever thought of being a pilgrim. I thought they were a little too religious.

Noting that he was the only white male Anglo Protestant among his group on this first pilgrimage, Webb-Mitchell described the ways in which this form of spiritual awareness presented him with new challenges. By the midpoint of the journey, or “baptism by fire,” Webb-Mitchell’s body was used to the stress. Besides the physical toll, he also spent those first three days “fixated” on the corpus, body of Christ, affixed to the six-foot wooden cross carried by his group. After a driver jeered at the group, yelling that Jesus isn’t on the cross anymore, the Presbyterian Webb-Mitchell, who also found the corpus foreign, learned the significance of the corpus cross to his group (a reminder that Jesus died for the sins of the world) versus Webb-Mitchell’s familiar, unadorned Protestant cross (a reminder of the risen Jesus). The discussion helped lead to his view of “the waiting spirit who silently accompanies me on this trek.”

Appearances Count
The next footed foray Mitchell-Webb detailed was more local. In this particular trek, a 45-mile, two-day walk from Snow Camp to Durham, the author accompanied five young men from a Duke Divinity School class he taught. The group gathered branches left in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran, fashioned them into a six-foot tall cross, and, as good Christian soldiers, set out on their pilgrimage. The first day passed without incident but shortly into the start of the final day, in northern Orange County, a sheriff’s deputy stopped the group to inquire about its purpose. Mitchell-Webb explained that they were on a Christian pilgrimage. The deputy revealed that some residents in the predominantly African-American area called the sheriff’s office concerned about the sight of a group of white men carrying a cross.

“The Christ You Seek You Will Not Find Unless You Bring Him With You”
Mitchell-Webb then discussed his pilgrimage to the Esquipulas, Guatemala, basilica, famous for its El Cristo Negro, the black Christ. Carved by a Portuguese artist of balsam and orangewood, this Christ figure’s skin tone appears similar to that of the local people. Now encased in Plexiglas behind the altar, Mitchell-Webb described how the shrewd Roman Catholic conquistadors used El Cristo Negro to make Christianity more acceptable to the indigenous people by having a figure who shared their appearance. Mitchell-Webb repeated a phrase he learned from the local pilgrims: “the Christ you seek you will not find unless you bring him with you.”

Saint Patrick’s Purgatory
Mitchell-Webb’s final pilgrimage detailed in his book is to Northern Ireland: Saint Patrick’s Purgatory. Constantly churning waters surround this island where, as the story goes, Saint Patrick came upon a cave where he experienced the depths of purgatory. Pilgrims come to this site to seek such revelations as penance, transformation, God. Given the small size of the island, the pilgrim’s route may appear short, but all is not as it seems. Pilgrims here surrender their shoes to the monks, who lock them away, then follow the same pilgrimage path nine times, from the basilica to Saint Patrick’s cross, stopping for prayer and reflection at mounds that formerly housed hermits and now are sharp, rocky formations around the basilica. Mitchell-Webb said he got to know people by their feet. And he wasn’t joking.

“To Consider Life as a Pilgrimage Has Been the Greatest Insight I Have Had”
For Mitchell-Webb pilgrimage is a way of life. It’s understanding life differently and now, as he sees it, also a better way of understanding life. We all make pilgrimages, he noted, we just may not yet think of them as pilgrimages. The journey begins with a quick departure, perhaps a kiss goodbye to loved ones. We trek off to be with certain folks for certain hours, often wedging in a call to loved ones in the afternoon to be sure all’s well. We travel home again and complete the circle. Despite the repetitive nature of our days, we are not the same. We are changed, Webb-Mitchell said, sharing, “to consider life as a pilgrimage has been the greatest insight I have had.”

Concluding his prepared remarks by referring to the divergent paths in Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, and a quote attributed to Yogi Berra (although Berra personally told an instructor of mine, “I never said that.”), “When you come to a fork in the road…take it,” Mitchell-Webb told the audience that we are always on the journey of life—the pilgrimage of life.

Other interesting links:

• News & Observer feature on Brett Webb-Mitchell, by Yonat Shimron
• Brett Webb-Mitchell’s “School of the Pilgrim” Web site

Week 15 Assignment, Part 3–Revisions to Press Release for CPAAA Web Site Launch

——————————————————————————————-————-
City of Durham
Office of Public Affairs
101 City Hall Plaza
Durham, NC 27701

Durham Police Department News Release

For Release January 1, 2007
Contact: Rebekah C. Radisch, President, CPAAA: 919-201-1183 or radisch@email.unc.edu
Kimberle W. Walker, Public Relations Coordinator: 919-560-4322, ext. 263, or Kimberle.Walker @durhamnc.gov

 

 

Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association Launches Web Site
New Tool Assists Citizens Involved in Fighting Crime

DURHAM, NC — Members of Durham’s Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA)—and now the rest of the world—can keep up to date with the CPAAA’s latest work: its first Web site. No ball will drop, as in Times Square, to ring in the new site, but Monday, January 1, www.durhampolice.com/cpaaa goes live for all to visit.

The site started as a class project for the group’s president Rebekah Radisch, but evolved into a full-fledged, fully functioning site.

“We’d talked for years about needing to get a Web site,” Radisch said, “and thanks to my class, I finally had the push to get it done.”

Radisch’s class, “Writing for Digital Media,” is part of the Certificate in Communication and Technology offered by the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Radisch also credits the Durham Police Department (DPD) and Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers for its enthusiastic support of the project.

“The new CPAAA Web site offers the many graduates of our Citizens’ Police Academies an exciting new opportunity to interact with each other and stay up on the activities of the CPAAA and the Durham Police,” notes Chalmers. “Furthermore, it’s another way for alumni to help relay the department’s message to the community—and the world.”

The CPAAA grew out of the Durham Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy. The Academy offers Durham , NC , residents a comprehensive insider’s look at police department operations. The Academy meets twice weekly for six weeks, and is free of charge. Its 35th class begins Tuesday, April 24, at Durham Police headquarters. To date, more than 500 city residents have graduated from the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy since its 1998 inception.

Citizens’ Police Academy graduates make up the membership of the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association. CPAAA members work to increase community support and awareness of police operations through education and strengthening police-citizen relationships. The Durham Police Academy Citizens’ Alumni Association seeks to:

• advance graduates’ interest and involvement in police operations,
• create positive police/citizen relationships,
• undertake community service projects,
• and provide social opportunities.

The new CPAAA Web site features information and background on the organization, messages from key participants, including Durham’s current and former police chiefs, the departmental liaison, and a longtime member of the group, a sampling of events and activities, and a section of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). In addition, the site provides handy links to other Web sites with a crime fighting focus.

Interested Citizens’ Police Academy graduates visiting the site can get all the latest news by just typing in their e-mail address and clicking on an automatic sign-up box for the CPAAA’s new Yahoo! Groups mailing list. They can also get more information about the group or make comments through a dedicated contact form linked on the site.

The Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association meets the first Monday of every month, at 7 PM (with the exception of those Mondays that are legal holidays or may reasonably fall within an extended holiday period, including New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day), at Durham Police Department headquarters, 505 West Chapel Hill Street in downtown Durham.

For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy , contact Corporal Felisa Francis in the Crime Prevention Unit of the Durham Police Department at 919-684-4440, extension 261. Spanish speakers may contact Corporal H. L. Borges at extension 277. For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association, please contact Corporal Francis or CPAAA President Rebekah Radisch at 919-201-1183. Or visit the new Durham CPAAA Web site: www.durhampolice.com/cpaaa.

—www.durhampolice.com—

Week 14—CPAAA Site FAQs…

 

Assignment: Create an interactive FAQ help page for your entity (publication, company or organization). This frequently asked question section should anticipate common problems and questions users might have. The page should have:

• Clear, comprehensible instructions
• Clear organization
• Thorough consideration/anticipation of user questions
• Informative, helpful answers to FAQ questions
• Design that promotes, rather than impedes, page usability

CPAAA FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions
About Durham’s Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association

We’ve solicited questions from members of our organization, graduates of the Durham Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academies and visitors to our site in order to anticipate and answer questions about the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA). The following list provides the most common questions. Clicking each question takes you directly to the answer. Please look over the questions and answers to learn more about the CPAAA. Should you need further information, please contact us at the links below.

1. What Is the CPAAA?
2. What Does the CPAAA Do?
3. Why Should I Join the CPAAA?
4. When & Where Does the CPAAA Meet?
5. How About a Suggestion for the CPAAA?
6. What Will the CPAAA Expect of Me?
7. Where Can I Find the CPAAA’s Mission Statement?
8. What About the CPAAA’s Constitution & Bylaws?
9. How Do I Join the CPAAA?
10. Who Runs the CPAAA?
11. Who Can Answer More CPAAA Questions?

---

1. What Is the CPAAA?
   The Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA) consists of persons who have graduated from a Durham Citizens’ Police Academy and who have paid (or will pay) their dues to CPAAA for the current year. While the Durham Police Department does provide meeting space and a departmental liaison to the CPAAA, the DPD and the city of Durham do not provide monetary support to the organization. Monies collected from membership dues and raised through special fundraising projects help fund the CPAAA and its activities. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
2. What Does the CPAAA Do?
   The CPAAA supports the Durham Police Department in ways appropriate for citizen volunteers. This may include being part of the Citizens’ Police Academy experience for new students, assisting the DPD with community outreach events, and a wide variety of community projects designed to enhance and uplift citizens’ perceptions about the Durham Police Department. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
3. Why Should I Join the CPAAA?
   Joining the CPAAA is a rewarding way to extend your Citizens’ Police Academy experience. Beyond the social aspects, it’s a way of saying, “Thank you,” to the men and women risking their lives to protect and serve Durham’s citizens. It also provides opportunities for members to put their varied talents to good use. And CPAAA offers a means to volunteer and reach out to others in the community. Your efforts on behalf of the Durham Police Department provide useful and worthwhile ways to show your appreciation for the DPD’s work protecting you and enhancing your quality of life. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
4. When & Where Does the CPAAA Meet?
   CPAAA meets the first Monday of every month at 7 PM (with the exception of those Mondays that are legal holidays or may fall within an extended holiday period, including New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day) in the Community Room of the Durham Police Department. Occasionally, special meetings or events are also held (to arrange details for a community outreach project or fundraiser, for example). (back to FAQ list at top of page)
5. How About a Suggestion for the CPAAA?
   Your constructive ideas are welcomes and will be treated with respect. Let us know how we can help you and serve our city better. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
6. What Will the CPAAA Expect of Me?
   Dues are $10 per year, payable in January or when you join CPAAA. Attendance at meetings and participation in community outreach projects are voluntary, but your presence shows your support of CPAAA. That’s about it, unless you wish to coordinate a special project or work on a committee. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
7. Where Can I Find the CPAAA’s Mission Statement?
   It’s short and sweet and yours for the viewing right here. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
8. What About the CPAAA’s Constitution & Bylaws?
   You won’t find short and sweet, but you will find all the official information about the CPAAA here. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
9. How Do I Join the CPAAA?
   All Citizens’ Police Academy graduates are eligible for membership in the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association. We hope you’ll decide to join us in this always-interesting group. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
10. Who Runs the CPAAA?
    Officers of the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association include Rebekah Radisch: president, Virginia Williams: vice president, Michael Perry: treasurer, and Phyllis Carrington: secretary. Terms last two years and the next election for officers takes place Monday, December 3, 2007, at 7 PM. All members in good standing are eligible to stand for election. Durham Police Corporal Felisa Francis is the DPD liaison to the CPAAA. (back to FAQ list at top of page)
11. Who Can Answer More CPAAA Questions?
    For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy and Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association, please contact Durham Police Department Corporal Felisa Francis at 919-560-4440, extension 261, or by e-mail. You may also contact current CPAAA President Rebekah Radisch at 919-201-1183, or by e-mail. Or, better yet, just show up at 7 PM the first Monday of the month at the Durham Police Department’s downtown Durham headquarters, located at 505 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham NC 27701. (back to FAQ list at top of page)

---

Anything Else About the CPAAA?

Just let us know. Please e-mail us with any questions inadvertently overlooked. We will post responses here. In the meantime, we look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association!

Click for help or questions!

Week 12—Press Release for CPAAA Web Site Launch

Week 12—Press Release for CPAAA Web Site Launch
Draft a press release on behalf of your organization or publication. You choose the topic or purpose, which could be to promote an event, raise public awareness on an issue or cause, or respond to a crisis, among other things. Make sure the release is developed and published for online consumption and distribution (in other words, integrate this week’s module). Post to your blog. Length: About 700 words.

——————————————————————————————-————-
City of Durham
Office of Public Affairs
101 City Hall Plaza
Durham, NC 27701

Durham Police Department News Release

For Release January 1, 2007
Contact: Rebekah C. Radisch, President, CPAAA: 919-201-1183 or radisch@email.unc.edu
Kimberle W. Walker, Public Relations Coordinator: 919-560-4322, ext. 263, or Kimberle.Walker @durhamnc.gov

Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association Launches Web Site
New Tool Assists Citizens Involved in Fighting Crime

Members of Durham’s Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA) typically meet the first Monday of every month—except when holidays take precedence, as is the case for what would be the group’s first meeting of the new year. And although the New Year’s Day holiday bumps the CPAAA’s first meeting of 2007 to February 5, group members—and now the rest of the world—can keep up to date with the CPAAA’s latest work: its first Web site. No ball will drop, as in Times Square, to ring in the new site, but Monday, January 1, www.durhampolice.com/cpaaa goes live for all in Durham—and the world—to visit.

The site started as a class project for the group’s president Rebekah Radisch, but evolved into a full-fledged, fully functioning site. “We’d talked for years about needing to get a Web site,” Radisch said, “and thanks to my class, I finally had the push to get it done.” Radisch’s class, “Writing for Digital Media,” is part of the Certificate in Communication and Technology offered by the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Radisch also credits the Durham Police Department (DPD) for its enthusiastic support of the project. Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers notes “…the new CPAAA Web site offers the many graduates of our Citizens’ Police Academies an exciting new opportunity to interact with each other and stay up on the activities of the CPAAA and the Durham Police. Furthermore, it’s another way for alumni to help relay the department’s message to the community—and the world.”

The CPAAA grew out of the Durham Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy. The Academy offers Durham , NC , residents a comprehensive insider’s look at police department operations. The Academy meets twice weekly for six weeks, and is free of charge. Its 35th class begins Tuesday, April 24, at Durham Police headquarters. To date, more than 500 city residents have graduated from the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy since its 1998 inception.

Citizens’ Police Academy graduates make up the membership of the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association. CPAAA members work to increase community support and awareness of police operations through education and strengthening police-citizen relationships. The Durham Police Academy Citizens’ Alumni Association seeks to:

• advance graduates’ interest and involvement in police operations,
• create positive police/citizen relationships,
• undertake community service projects,
• and provide social opportunities.

The new CPAAA Web site features information and background on the organization, messages from key participants—including Durham’s current and former police chiefs, the departmental liaison, and a longtime member of the group—a sampling of events and activities, and a section of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). In addition, the site provides handy links to other Web sites with a crime fighting focus.

Interested Citizens’ Police Academy graduates visiting the site can get all the latest news by just typing in their e-mail address and clicking on an automatic sign-up box for the CPAAA’s new Yahoo! Groups mailing list. They can also get more information about the group or make comments through a dedicated contact form linked on the site.

The Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association meets the first Monday of every month, at 7 PM (with the exception of those Mondays that are legal holidays or may reasonably fall within an extended holiday period, including New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day), at Durham Police Department headquarters, 505 West Chapel Hill Street in downtown Durham.

For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy , contact Corporal Felisa Francis in the Crime Prevention Unit of the Durham Police Department at 919-684-4440, extension 261. Spanish speakers may contact Corporal H. L. Borges at extension 277. For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association, please contact Corporal Francis or CPAAA President Rebekah Radisch at 919-201-1183. Or visit the new Durham CPAAA Web site: www.durhampolice.com/cpaaa.

—www.durhampolice.com—

Week 12: CPAAA Site Content (Revised)

Week 12—CPAAA Site Content Revised
Assignment: Revise your online writing presentation based on feedback from the instructor.

---

Durham Police Department
Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association
DPD CPAAA

NEXT CPAAA MEETING:
Monday, Dec. 4, at 7 PM
(Annual Holiday Potluck Party)

Get the latest Durham CPAAA news. Subscribe to DurhamCPAAA!

Welcome!
Welcome to the more than 500 Durham Citizens’ Police Academy graduates since 1998. We’re glad you’re here and hope you’ll enjoy your visit. Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association meets the first Monday of every month, at 7 PM, in the Community Room of the Durham Police Department headquarters, 505 West Chapel Hill Street in downtown Durham.

CPAAA Goals…
CPAAA members work to increase community support and awareness of police operations through education and strengthening police-citizen relationships.

The Durham Police Academy Citizens’ Alumni Association seeks to:

• advance graduates’ interest and involvement in police operations,
• create positive police/citizen relationships,
• undertake community service projects, and
• offer social opportunities for its membership.

CPAAA Background…
The CPAAA grew out of the Durham Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy. The Academy offers Durham, NC, residents a comprehensive insider’s look at police department operations. The Academy meets twice weekly for six weeks, and is free of charge. Its 34th class graduated Tuesday evening, October 10, at the Durham City Hall.

So far, more than 500 city residents have graduated from the Academy. With technological advances in crime fighting, topics at each Academy tend to evolve, resulting in many graduates attending multiple academies. Spanish translators assist, as necessary, in the communication process. For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or contact Corporal Felisa Francis in the Crime Prevention Unit of the Durham Police Department at 919-684-4440, extension 261. Spanish speakers may contact Corporal H. L. Borges at extension 277.

According to former CPAAA President Colean Gore, CPAAA was formed to help Citizens’ Police Academy graduates continue to learn more about the Durham Police Department, to help around the DPD with paper work, calls, etc., and to raise money for the DPD’s Summer Youth Police Camp, Police Explorers and other activities requested by the DPD.

Perspectives on CPAAA & Its Role…

Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers
Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers shares his thoughts on community policing.

I think the most important part of community policing is education and awareness. And that’s one of the things that certainly has been the mission and focus that we’ve had in developing community policing. It’s really trying to get the entire community on the same page with us. There’s so much misinformation about what’s going on in the community, so much misinformation and misunderstanding about crime and how as a community we can impact crime. And the only way to do that really is to continue to bring people together.

…

Because these individuals who go through these processes now become better educated and aware advocates for the community—not just for the police department—but for this community. They can go out and dispel rumors. They can go out and provide better information. And the more you can keep an organization like this together, the more you can continue to provide them with new and better information and build on, again, that advocacy pool, the better you are going to be as far as a community.

Read more of Chief Chalmers’ thoughts on community involvement.

Former Durham Police Chief Teresa Chambers
Teresa Chambers, Durham’s Police Chief from 1998-2002, launched the Citizens’ Police Academy and encouraged formation of the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association. Chief Chambers offers these reflections on CPA and CPAAA.

We started the Citizens’ Police Academy because we felt it imperative that citizens take an active role in working with police to safeguard our communities. I’d seen the success of such programs in my native Maryland and around the country. In fact, Prince George’s County, MD, is not unlike Durham in terms of the kinds of crime prevalent there. Coming to Durham I noticed that citizens wanted to feel like they could do something so it seemed like a low cost, high return program. The Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association came about as a result of some CPA graduates who wanted to stay involved in the work of the Durham Police. I’m excited about the new chapter this web site opens for the CPAAA and its members and encourage all graduates to be involved with the CPAAA.

Durham Police Corporal Felisa Francis
Durham Police Corporal Felisa Francis coordinates the Citizens’ Police Academy and serves as liaison to the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association. Corporal Francis believes she’s seen a real change in attitudes, both in the police department and in Durham’s communities.

People enroll in the Citizens’ Police Academy for many different reasons (besides the fact that it’s free to Durham residents). Some attend as representatives of their Partners Against Crime (PAC) groups, some are crime victims and seek ways to avoid being victimized again, some are just interested in staying safe and keeping their neighborhoods safe. All are welcome. One of the most gratifying aspects of these projects has been seeing the influx of Latinos in the community faithfully attending and graduating from the Citizens’ Police Academies. I encourage them and all graduates to stay involved in what we’re doing by joining and attending the Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association. You will be welcomed and your ideas will find support among the CPAAA. I look forward to meeting you and working with you on some exciting projects.

Durham CPAAA Member Virginia Williams
A community activist for most of her life, longtime member and current CPAAA Vice President Virginia Williams finds inspiration in her work with the CPAAA.

I’m not one to sit around while things deteriorate around me. I believe, and I’ve always believed, that if you want something to change, well, you better try to change it. I’ve gone through several Citizens’ Police Academies in the last several years because the information is always changing. Just as there is new technology there are sneakier criminals out there. So I think it’s important to stay updated. In CPAAA we try to put our heads together to find ways to address concerns in our communities. The officers are great and very responsive to our suggestions. And, as a senior citizen, I just feel safer having some relationship with the Durham Police. I also personally call each and every CPAAA member each month to remind them of our meetings, so you have no excuse not to come. And I do hope you will come and join us. The more the merrier, as they say!

CPAAA Events & Activities…
CPAAA participates with the Durham Police Department in community outreach events, such as back-to-school activities and the Durham holiday parade.

Some of our past activities include:

• Safety Gunlock Giveaway
• Child Abuse Awareness Exhibit
• UNC-TV FESTIVAL Fundraising Telethon
• Shield A Badge Program
• National Night Out
• West End Reunion Parade
• Light Up Durham
• Durham Holiday Parade
• Fundraisers

As part of its positive PR for the Durham Police Department, the CPAAA dedicates time and resources to assisting the community financially whenever possible. To date CPAAA contributions include:

• Domestic Violence Programs
• Share Your Christmas
• Lyon Park Summer Youth Camp
• Police Explorers
• Back to School Backpack Supplies

Crime Links…

Community Policing/Involvement:

• Durham City Government
• Durham Police Department
• Durham Police Partners Against Crime
• Durham Partners Against Crime District 2 (PAC-2)
• Durham Police Project Safe Neighborhoods
• Durham Crimestoppers
• Durham Police Neighborhood Resources (Neighborhood Watch, etc.)
• National Citizens’ Police Academy Association

Crime Information:

• Durham Police Crime Statistics
• Durham Police Crime Mapper
• US Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Registry
• NC Department of Corrections Inmate Search
• US Bureau of Prisons Federal Inmate Search
• National Center for Victims of Crime

Thanks!
For more information about how you can participate in the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association and related activities and events, please complete and submit our online information request form. Should you wish to make a donation to our not-for-profit organization, you may go directly to our secure PayPal site. Thank you for your support of the Durham CPAAA.

CPAAA FAQs…

Week 11: Follow Me to Brett Webb-Mitchell’s Book Reading

Week 11 Assignment–Citizen reporting: Blog something – an event, trip, conference or meeting. Take the rest of us there. I am looking for immediacy, vicariousness, texture, reflection, a sense of what happened and what you thought about it. Think of this assignment as visceral, immediate, on-site reporting from a particular point of view – your point of view. If the event, trip, etc. can relate in some way to digital communication, all the better, but it isn’t necessary. Remember to hyperlink where appropriate and, more generally, to present content for maximum effectiveness online.

——————————————————-
Book Reading/Author Appearance
Brett Webb-Mitchell
Follow Me: Christian Growth on the Pilgrim’s Way
Quail Ridge Books—Raleigh, NC
7 PM, Wednesday, November 1, 2006
——————————————————-

Follow Me to Brett Webb-MItchell’s Book Reading
I’d read a notice that a local Presbyterian minister, Brett Webb-Mitchell, would be reading from his new book, Follow Me: Christian Growth on the Pilgrim’s Way at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. Since I am a certified pilgrim, I expected an interesting evening. I was not disappointed.

In a time when independent booksellers are few and far between all the Border’s, Barnes & Nobles and other big box bookstores, Quail Ridge offers booklovers an expansive selection and lots of literary activities without the coffee shops, high-speed Internet connections and social atmosphere found in the chain stores.

After purchasing a copy of the book ($16), I settled into one of the uncomfortable resin lawn chairs scattered about for the event. The audience consisted of about 50 mostly middle-aged people, many of whom knew each other and most of whom seemed to know the author. As it turned out many current parishioners from the author’s Raleigh church, and some former ones from his previous church in Durham, were in attendance.

A Lifelong Pilgrimage
Wearing a crisp yellow oxford cloth shirt over what appeared to be a fresh undershirt, Webb-Mitchell looked less like a road-weary pilgrim than the university professor that he sometimes is. Greeted with a warm welcome from the hometown crowd, Webb-Mitchell began his address by noting that he was speaking on All Saints Day and acknowledged those unknown saints whose footsteps he now follows. He revealed what he called a truth: that Christian life is indeed a lifelong pilgrimage.

Webb-Mitchell spoke of his own road to becoming a pilgrim. The first step, he said, consists of going forward and, at the time, it may seem unremarkable. He then described all the elements that combined to make that first step to emphasize the importance of simply stepping off as a pilgrim. The bulk of Webb-Mitchell’s reading consisted of abbreviated passages of the four pivotal pilgrimages detailed at length in his book.

“The Waiting Spirit Who Silently Accompanies Me on This Trek”
Webb-Mitchell’s first pilgrim anecdote detailed his first pilgrimage: accompanying 35 men between the ages of 13 and 62 on a six-day, 125-mile trek to Chimayo, New Mexico. He said this destination is considered the Lourdes of the Americas where pilgrims go to be healed of physical, mental and spiritual ailments. As he speaks, I recall seeing such pilgrims walking near the highway as I drove between Albuquerque and Santa Fe during my last visit to New Mexico, long before I ever thought of being a pilgrim. I thought they were a little too religious.

Noting that he was the only white male Anglo Protestant among his group on this first pilgrimage, Webb-Mitchell described the ways in which this form of spiritual awareness presented him with new challenges. By the midpoint of the journey, or “baptism by fire,” Webb-Mitchell’s body was used to the stress. Besides the physical toll, he also spent those first three days “fixated” on the corpus, body of Christ, affixed to the six-foot wooden cross carried by his group. After a driver jeered at the group, yelling that Jesus isn’t on the cross anymore, the Presbyterian Webb-Mitchell, who also found the corpus foreign, learned the significance of the corpus cross to his group (a reminder that Jesus died for the sins of the world) versus Webb-Mitchell’s familiar, unadorned Protestant cross (a reminder of the risen Jesus). The discussion helped lead to his view of “the waiting spirit who silently accompanies me on this trek.”

Appearances Count
The next footed foray Mitchell-Webb detailed was more local. In this particular trek, a 45-mile, two-day walk from Snow Camp to Durham, the author accompanied five young men from a Duke Divinity School class he taught. The group gathered branches left in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran, fashioned them into a six-foot tall cross, and, as good Christian soldiers, set out on their pilgrimage. The first day passed without incident but shortly into the start of the final day, in northern Orange County, a sheriff’s deputy stopped the group to inquire about its purpose. Mitchell-Webb explained that they were on a Christian pilgrimage. The deputy revealed that some residents in the predominantly African-American area called the sheriff’s office concerned about the sight of a group of white men carrying a cross.

“The Christ You Seek You Will Not Find Unless You Bring Him With You”
Mitchell-Webb then discussed his pilgrimage to the Esquipulas, Guatemala, basilica, famous for its El Cristo Negro, the black Christ. Carved by a Portuguese artist of balsam and orangewood, this Christ figure’s skin tone appears similar to that of the local people. Now encased in Plexiglas behind the altar, Mitchell-Webb described how the shrewd Roman Catholic conquistadors used El Cristo Negro to make Christianity more acceptable to the indigenous people by having a figure who shared their appearance. Mitchell-Webb repeated a phrase he learned from the local pilgrims: “the Christ you seek you will not find unless you bring him with you.”

Saint Patrick’s Purgatory
Mitchell-Webb’s final pilgrimage detailed in his book is to Northern Ireland: Saint Patrick’s Purgatory. Constantly churning waters surround this island where, as the story goes, Saint Patrick came upon a cave where he experienced the depths of purgatory. Pilgrims come to this site to seek such revelations as penance, transformation, God. Given the small size of the island, the pilgrim’s route may appear short, but all is not as it seems. Pilgrims here surrender their shoes to the monks, who lock them away, then follow the same pilgrimage path nine times, from the basilica to Saint Patrick’s cross, stopping for prayer and reflection at mounds that formerly housed hermits and now are sharp, rocky formations around the basilica. Mitchell-Webb said he got to know people by their feet. And he wasn’t joking.

“To Consider Life as a Pilgrimage Has Been the Greatest Insight I Have Had”
For Mitchell-Webb pilgrimage is a way of life. It’s understanding life differently and now, as he sees it, also a better way of understanding life. We all make pilgrimages, he noted, we just may not yet think of them as pilgrimages. The journey begins with a quick departure, perhaps a kiss goodbye to loved ones. We trek off to be with certain folks for certain hours, often wedging in a call to loved ones in the afternoon to be sure all’s well. We travel home again and complete the circle. Despite the repetitive nature of our days, we are not the same. We are changed, Webb-Mitchell said, sharing, “to consider life as a pilgrimage has been the greatest insight I have had.”

Concluding his prepared remarks by referring to the divergent paths in Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, and Yogi Berra’s quote, “When you come to a fork in the road…take it,” Mitchell-Webb told the audience that we are always on the journey of life—the pilgrimage of life.

Other interesting links:

• News & Observer feature on Brett Webb-Mitchell, by Yonat Shimron
• Brett Webb-Mitchell’s “School of the Pilgrim” Web site

Week 10—CPAAA Site Draft

Week 10—CPAAA First Draft Online Brochure Content Be sure to present the piece for online readership, using the techniques and tools discussed in Modules 2-4. Do not merely post a large block of text or cut-and-paste from Word. This assignment asks you to apply what we’ve been discussing to your original writing.

---

DPD CPAAA
Durham Police Department
Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association

NEXT MEETING:
MONDAY, NOV. 6,
AT 7 PM

Thanks for visiting the Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Association (CPAAA) website.We extend a special welcome to those of you among more than 500 Durham Citizens’ Police Academy graduates since 1998. We’re glad you’re here and hope you’ll enjoy your visit. Durham Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association meets the first Monday of every month, at 7 PM, in the Durham Police Department headquarters, 505 West Chapel Hill Street in downtown Durham.

GOALS…
CPAAA members work to increase community support and awareness of police operations through education and strengthening police-citizen relationships.

The Durham Police Academy Citizens’ Alumni Association seeks to:

• advance graduates’ interest and involvement in police operations,
• create positive police/citizen relationships,
• undertake community service projects, and
• offer social opportunities for its membership.

BACKGROUND…
The CPAAA grew out of the Durham Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy. The Academy offers Durham, NC, residents a comprehensive insider’s look at police department operations. The Academy meets twice weekly for six weeks, and is free of charge. Its 34th class graduated Tuesday evening, October 10, at the Durham City Hall.

So far, more than 500 city residents have graduated from the Academy. With technological advances in crime fighting, topics at each Academy tend to evolve, resulting in many graduates attending multiple academies. Spanish translators assist, as necessary, in the communication process. For more information about the Citizens’ Police Academy, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or contact Corporal Felisa Francis in the Crime Prevention Unit of the Durham Police Department at 919-684-4440, extension 261. Spanish speakers may contact Corporal H. L. Borges at extension 277.

According to former CPAAA President Colean Gore, CPAAA was formed to help Citizens’ Police Academy graduates continue to learn more about the Durham Police Department, to help around the DPD with paper work, calls, etc., and to raise money for the DPD’s Summer Youth Police Camp, Police Explorers and other activities requested by the DPD.

PERSPECTIVES ON
CPAAA & ITS ROLE…

DURHAM POLICE CHIEF STEVE CHALMERS: [Chief Chalmers stated his secretary will be in touch with me to arrange a meeting time. Chalmers said he appreciates my efforts and that the project sounds very interesting. In an earlier meeting with Chalmers, he shared his vision for the CPAAA to help achieve DPD goals. Specifically, he would like CPAAA to help with marketing/PR. Image is a problem for the DPD, he noted, but stressed that no other area police force works as closely with the community. He wants CPAAA members to act as ambassadors for the DPD and help relay its message in the community. He also sees continued and increased community participation. Chalmers said he has always seen CPAAA in terms of promoting the DPD and getting the word out about DPD services to the community. (1/12/04, 6:30 PM, Fifth Floor Conference Room, Durham Police Department Headquarters)]

FORMER DURHAM POLICE CHIEF TERESA CHAMBERS: [During Chief Teresa Chambers' tenure as Durham's Police Chief, 1998-2002, she launched the Citizens' Police Academy and approved formation of the Citizens' Police Academy Alumni Association. Chambers now lives in Maryland but expressed excitement about m project stating that she's proud of my efforts and finds it a worthwhile undertaking. Chambers would like to talk by telephone first and, if necessary, supplement our conversation with written responses. We are still attempting to find a mutually workable time to speak. Chambers will offer some history into the CPA and CPAAA and what her goals were for them. She will discuss her inspiration behind launching these groups and why she saw a need for them in Durham.]

DURHAM POLICE CORPORAL FELISA FRANCIS: [Corporal Francis coordinates the Citizens' Police Academy and the Citizens' Police Academy Alumni Association. She stated that she thinks my project sounds great but needs to run her participation by the DPD's PR department. Once she has input from there, she will contact be about arranging a meeting. Corporal Francis will speak about her history with the CPAAA and why she thinks such an organization benefits the department and community. She will also address her goals for the CPAAA.]

DURHAM CPAAA MEMBER VIRGINIA WILLIAMS: [Longtime member and current CPAAA Vice President Virginia Williams and I have not found a time to meet yet. She is retired and does not have an Internet connection. We will continue trying to arrange a meeting. A community activist for most of her life, Ms. Williams will speak about her inspiration for being involved in the CPAAA, her role in the organization and her plans and expecations for the group.]

EVENTS & ACTIVITIES…
CPAAA participates with the Durham Police Department in community outreach events, such as back-t0-school activities and the Durham holiday parade.

Some of our past activites include:

• Safety Gunlock Giveaway
• Child Abuse Exhibit
• UNC-TV FESTIVAL Fundraising Telethon
• Shield A Badge Program
• National Night Out
• West End Reunion Parade
• Light Up Durham
• Durham Holiday Parade
• Fundraisers

As part of its positive PR for the Durham Police Department, the CPAAA dedicates time and resources to assisting the community financially whenever possible. To date CPAAA contributions include:

• Domestic Violence Programs
• Share Your Christmas
• Lyon Park Summer Youh Camp
• Police Explorers
• Back to School Backpack Supplies

LINKS…

Community Policing/Involvement:

Durham City Government

Durham Police Department

Durham Police Partners Against Crime

Durham Partners Against Crime District 2 (PAC-2)

Durham Police Project Safe Neighborhoods

Durham Crimestoppers

Durham Police Neighborhood Resources (Neighborhood Watch, etc.)

National Citizens’ Police Academy Association

Crime Information:

Durham Police Crime Statistics

Durham Police Crime Mapper

U.S. Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Registry

NC Department of Corrections Inmate Search

US Bureau of Prisons Federal Inmate Search

National Center for Victims of Crime

FAQs…

Week 8—CPAAA Site Contents

Week 8, Part 2—Online content I plan to create for Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association…

In keeping the Durham Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association (CPAAA) online audience in mind, I plan to develop informative, relevant, useful and timely content.

The Durham Police Department (DPD) Web site will host the CPAAA online presence. In addition to consideration of its intended audience, the CPAAA site’s symbolism will also reflect its affiliation with the DPD. The CPAAA site’s appearance will suggest authority, strength and stability.

The point of the site is to encourage new members from the ranks of the several hundred citizens who, over the last 15 years, have successfully completed the six-week Durham Citizens Police Academy (CPA).

To do this, I plan to write an overview of the organization for the Web site that will essentially accomplish everything that an informational, paper-based brochure would do. This will be similar to a series of feature stories in that the content will include:

• an overview of the organization,
• profile interviews with key personnel (Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers, Durham Police Corporal Felisa Francis, departmental leader of the Citizens Police Academy and advisor/liaison to the Alumni Association, former Durham Police Chief Teresa Chambers, who started the Citizens Police Academy),
• profile interviews with longtime Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association members,
• information on upcoming CPAAA meetings and events and CPA sessions,
• a section of Frequently Asked Questions,
• departmental and community resources,
• useful links,
• feedback and contact information,
• site source identification.