{"id":383165,"date":"2026-07-02T05:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/383165\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T05:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:00:11","slug":"city-of-los-al-pd-honors-its-2026-citizens-academy-graduating-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/383165\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Los Al PD honors its 2026 \u201cCitizens Academy\u201d graduating class"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>the City of Los Alamitos 2026 graduates of its Citizen Academy.
\nCourtesy photo<\/p>\n

The Los Alamitos Chief of Police announced the city\u2019s \u201cCitizen\u2019s Academy\u201d 2026 graduating class at the City Council\u2019s most recent meeting, saying the program is advancing so quickly that perhaps a graduate of the class may soon facilitate the growing program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Academy gives residents a first-hand look at the professionalism, accountability and dedication that defines our department,\u201d Police Chief Michael Claborn told the Council.<\/p>\n

He introduced Bruce Murphy, one of the department\u2019s VIP\u2019s, whom he said, along with others, helped facilitate this year\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur program has been an amazing program,\u201d said Claborn, \u201cand it is about building understanding, strengthening trust, and continuing the partnership that keeps Los Alamitos safe,\u201d the police chief said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur program has grown since its inception,\u201d he said, \u201cand has now reached the point where they are actually able to facilitate the delivery of this course to our community, which, I\u2019m not aware of is being done anywhere else in the country,\u201d he added.
The program, introduced in 2025, gives everyday citizens a chance to look deep inside the city\u2019s police department and get a look at city operations as well.<\/p>\n

Claborn introduced Jenna Bloom, who spoke for this year\u2019s graduating class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first joined the Citizens Academy, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect,\u201d said Bloom. \u201cAs the weeks went on, before I knew it, I was looking forward to it. There wasn\u2019t a single week that wasn\u2019t engaging and informative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the course, we were given a deeper look into the police department operations,\u201d she said, noting that she was \u201cespecially impressed by the professionalism demonstrated by the officer\u201d she had a chance to ride with on patrol, and others experienced during the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to choose a favorite week, because every topic highlighted a different but essential part of law enforcement. We learned about the coroner\u2019s office, SWAT operations, the narcotics division, canine unit, crime lab, shoot\/don\u2019t shoot scenarios, domestic violence situations, de-escalation tactics, the coordination between agencies that help keep our communities safe, and more,\u201d said Bloom.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the eight-week course, we also had the opportunity to meet and become friends with people from many different backgrounds and professions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Though this year\u2019s class was diverse, she said they had one thing in common.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite our differences, we all shared one thing in common: our genuine love and care for the city of Los Alamitos,\u201d she said, \u201cand the people who work every day to protect it. I want to sincerely thank Michael Claborn, Captain Luke South, Support Services Manager Robert Acosta, VIP Murphy, VIP Kathy Gardner, Media Coordinator Alexandra Van Voris, and Coordinator Lizet Salinas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s class included Bloom, Angela Bittbauer, Troy Butcher, Leonor Carter, Meryl Cohn, Kristin DiMiceli, Glen MacCloud, Miriam Espejo, Jason Morales, Susan Morales, Veronica Orrick, Clayton Sierra and Gary Loe.<\/p>\n

Participating VIPS were Art Remnet, Anna Bilyk, Bruce Murphy, Gardner, Daniel Patz, Karl Meyers, Debbie Charland, Randy Smith, Van Voris and Lizet Salinas.<\/p>\n

Claborn also announced the promotion of two officers, Corporal Stephen Smith and Corporal Matthew Merzada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"the City of Los Alamitos 2026 graduates of its Citizen Academy. Courtesy photo The Los Alamitos Chief of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-383165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}