Dan Perunovich doesn't speed anymore -- at least not intentionally.
He's not the same man who fumed when an Anne Arundel County police officer ticketed him two years ago for going 15 to 20 mph above the speed limit.
The change came after Mr. Perunovich, 40, took a three-month course at the Citizen Police Academy in 1993. The course is designed to help civilians understand police work. Department officials also hope it improves relations between the department and the communities it serves.
The next course is slated to begin March 9 and will end with a graduation ceremony June 2. The course is the third since the program started in 1993. The course is free and open to the first 30 people who reserve places, said Sgt. Dennis O'Toole, a police academy instructor.
The classes will focus on domestic violence, forensics, narcotics, lethal and nonlethal use of force and traffic enforcement. The latter class changed Mr. Perunovich's views about speeding.
"An officer sits down and talks to you about an accident and tells you how shocking an accident scene can be," said Mr. Perunovich, a management consultant from Severna Park.
Shirley Elliott, 58, a Pasadena homemaker, enrolled in the academy with her husband Josiah, 53, She said she "thoroughly enjoyed" the course and found the discussion on using nonlethal force to fend off an attacker especially useful.
"We learned how to maim him without killing him," she said.
During the class on lethal force, students will be presented with several scenarios in which they will have to decide whether to shoot a suspect. Their weapon will be a department-issue Beretta that shoots a beam of light.
When Mr. Perunovich took the course, he shot one suspect between the eyes. He felt proud of his marksmanship until Sgt. Richard Grossman, who taught the class, told him he should have tried to defuse the situation.
With the high interest in the Los Angeles trial of O. J. Simpson on murder charges, Sergeant O'Toole expects the next class to be eager to learn about collecting evidence and DNA testing. In one section of the evidence-collection class, Sergeant O'Toole will let students gather evidence from simulated scenes of a robbery, a burglary and one where a body has been found.
The class on narcotics will give students a chance to look at samples of various illegal drugs.
Students also will learn about police ethics, officer survival and street decisions, community policing and the history of the Anne Arundel County Police Department.
The Citizen Police Academy is the brainchild of former police Chief Robert Russell. Sergeant O'Toole vividly remembers his initial reaction to the idea.
"At first I was a little bit reluctant," Sergeant O'Toole confessed, citing his skittishness about explaining policy to civilians. He asked other officers to serve as speakers. Their reactions were the same as his.
"The Rodney King incident was still fresh in people's minds," Sergeant O'Toole said. He said he remembers thinking, "Boy, we're going to get our heads beaten in on this one."
Sure enough the case came up during the class on the use of nonlethal force. Mr. Perunovich said he didn't change his opinion.
"[It] intensified my belief that those gentlemen were totally out of control," said Mr. Perunovich.
Sergeant O'Toole agreed that "there were things that could have JTC been done that put [the situation] better under control." County police are trained in baton techniques that are more effective than the repeated blows Los Angeles officers gave Mr. King, said Sergeant O'Toole.
The classes will be held on Thursdays from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the police academy off Elmer F. Hagner Lane in Davidsonville. The students also will tour police headquarters in Millersville.
Anyone interested in registering for the class can call Sergeant O'Toole or Officer Sharon Conrad at 222-1950.