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Georgetown Police Department Interns Experience What it Means to be an Officer
Posted Feb 15, 2010
Georgetown — For college students Curtis Marzerka and Amanda Lusignan, the best way to learn what it means to be a police officer is to experience it firsthand. The two are doing just that as the Georgetown Police Department’s interns.
“I implemented a police intern program for college men and women when I started here. The idea is to have them come in to an organization and get a real feeling of how police officers do day-to-day work … what it means to be a patrol officer, the chief of police, a detective, or be in the communications center,” explained Chief James Mulligan.
The interns experience 120 hours of supervised service, unpaid as college credit.
For Marzerka, 20, of Amesbury, a student at Northern Essex Community College, this is the ideal way to discover what the job is like. Marzerka has known he wanted to be a police officer since middle school. While a student at Amesbury High he interned at the Merrimac Police Department, and was so excited to start his internship at college he began it early during winter break.
“I heard about Georgetown’s internship program from a Topsfield officer a couple of months ago. I came here to talk to the chief. The officers here are wonderful and take their job very seriously,” Marzerka said.
Maintaining the safety of the community is the main goal for Georgetown officers, he explained.
Both Marzerka and Lusignan began their internship observing in the communications center.
Lusignan, who lives in Georgetown but grew up in Spencer, is specializing in forensics at Salem State College. The 23-year-old will graduate this spring with her criminal justice degree and plans to pursue her masters’ degree at a school in Florida.
Lusignan began her internship last week. On Monday she went to Haverhill District Court with Lt. David Thompson. Last weekend she learned about the department’s accreditation, state and federal standards and rules and regulations with Lt. Don Cudmore.
“You get to see the different personalities when working with different officers. I find it more interesting than where I work, in retail,” she said.
Marzerka has not yet been to court, and hopes to experience that. His favorite part of the program is doing ride-a-longs with officers in the field.
“It’s not just about looking for people speeding. You get to have great conversations about being an officer,” said Marzerka, who talked to Officer Dennis Sullivan about the oral board interviews, Officer Derek Jones about professionalism and procedures during a motor vehicle stop, and with various officers about their views on the police academy.
Marzerka next plans on attending a four-year college and applying to various police departments in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
“I always wanted to help people and being a police officer is a very honorable job,” he said. “The internship has only increased my interest.”
Lusignan is not allowed to do ride-a-longs as part of her internship, due to a school liability issue.
Each intern will work on a special project while at the department. Marzerka will compile a history of the Georgetown Police Department; Lusignan is working on the 2009 annual report for accidents and arrests in Georgetown.
“I like knowing how to put puzzles together. I became interested in crime scene investigation through TV shows. I want to serve justice; the guilty deserve it,” said Lusignan.
Mulligan has both officers maintain a journal and get a brief history of each officer they work with.
“I want them to get to know the officers and their interests and hobbies,” Mulligan said.
Lusignan enjoys learning about each officer and how they juggle work and their families.
“I feel comfortable here because of that,” she said.
This article originally appeared in the Georgetown Record
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