Lynn teens complete student police academy course

LYNN – Forty teens traded sleeping in late and days at the beach for a 9 a.m. roll call and classes on constitutional law when they participated in Lynn Police Student Academy.”You guys, whether you realize it or not, accomplished an awful lot over the last six weeks,” said Lynn Police Officer Mark Lee.Lee was speaking during Thursday’s graduation ceremony at English High School, which wrapped up the six-week program.”This was not what I expected,” said KIPP Academy student Nicole Nunez. “Honestly, I learned more than I thought ? I learned life lessons like, ?Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.’ “Lee, along with officers Bob Hogan, Oren Wright and Ryan McDermott, all of whom are school resource officers, designed the program that gives students an inside peek at what it’s like to be a police officer.Students toughed out several 90-degree days inside classrooms with no air conditioning, learning about how to write reports, domestic violence issues and constitutional law, Lee said. But they also took a number of trips to places the average citizen rarely gets to go, he added.Students visited the Middleton jail where they got to go into places that Lee said only inmates and guards ever. The heard from an inmate from Lynn “who had a very compelling story.” The kids