2004
Dennis Police Department partners with D-Y High School in
“School to Careers”
Intern program.
In collaboration with Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School and Cape Cod - Martha’s Vineyard & Nantucket - School to Careers Partnership program, the Dennis Police Department has established an intern program for those D-Y High School students interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement.
In January or 2004 two members of the senior class of Dennis-Yarmouth High School began their participation in the School to Careers program at the Dennis Police Department. The interns must have an all-round good standing within the school and are interviewed by school staff as well as the department prior to their participating in the program.
Our participation in this program is a win-win situation. The department has received many hours of work by the interns in the filing and sorting of records, processing of found property and the data entry into the records management system. In return the interns have been instructed in the various laws concerning records keeping requirements of a police organization, property intake, storage and disposition requirements as well as their introduction to police computer database systems.
Another phase of the intern’s participation in the program is what we call “Shadow Day.” This is a day in which the students are allowed to participate in a field trip during their semester with the Department. Shadow day involved both interns accompanying (shadowing) Detective Robert Kurisko as he performed his duties in the Orleans District Court as the department – “Court Liaison” officer.
Their day started at 7:30a.m. and was non-stop as the interns viewed the various proceedings of the Orleans District Court. The staff of the court from the Presiding Justice (Robert Welsh) and the Justice of the Juvenile Division (Katherine White) on down to the clerks processing complaints took time from their busy schedules to sit and talk with the interns and answer questions about the role of the courts in the American Justice System.
The interns also met and talked at length with representatives of the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s staff including Assistant District Attorney Steve Adams and Victim Services staff personnel Joan Barrett and Page Malanowski. The Orleans Adult Probation as well as the Juvenile Probation Departments, Court Officers, and Assistant Clerk Magistrate Patricia Eldridge all participated in explaining their duties and answering questions for the interns. They also sat in and observed the arraignments, hearings and trials sessions of the court.
It was a full day for the interns and they collected more than ample information for a required class paper and presentation about their day in court.