POLK COUNTY SHERIFF, BYRON LYONS ESTABLISHES CITIZENS ACADEMY, LIVINGSTON TEXAS, 02/16/22...

TEARING DOWN WALLS...

Polk County Sheriff, Byron Lyons, wants the community of Polk County to get involved in helping to make the county a safer place to live. Sheriff Lyons is establishing a Citizens Academy. A school where actual citizens show up and take classes that are very much like the Police Academy. Lyons wants the citizen students to ride along with actual Polk County Sheriff's Deputies when they're on duty. The classes will also entail simulated real life situations where split second decisions are made that can impact lives. Lyons wants to "tear down walls, and open lines of commuication between citizens and local law enforcement". "I'm not trying to build a vigilante group. What I'm trying to build is a network of citizens who care not just about their community, but the community next to them". Lyons Continued, "...when I have only a few deputies out there, I also know that I have my citizens corps. that are hundreds, who are willing to use their cell phone, snap a picture or video, of things that are going on in their communities and make communications with us. That's the dream". Lyons is very serious about the Citizens Academy, and hopes that through it, his Citizens Corps. can communicate with local law enforcement at all hours. The classes will take place one night a week and last for approximately three hours. The first class will take place at the Polk County Sheriff's Office on March 24th at 6 pm.