Citizen's Police Academy resumes in Lower Burrell after pandemic hiatus

While covid prevented a lot of in-person events and regular meetings from happening for over two years, at least one has survived.

On Thursday evenings at Lower Burrell City Hall, the only Citizen’s Police Academy still operating in Westmoreland County meets for two hours. The 10-week session is back this year after covid shut it down for two years.

The gatherings are designed to enhance community security, encourage mutual assistance and help citizens better understand the responsibilities and legal parameters under which the police department operates.

Last week’s topic was the criminal justice system, and the speakers included District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli; Chris Haidze, the county’s special courts administrator; Allegheny Township District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec; and Lower Burrell police Sgt. Scott Miller.

“It’s our way of letting the citizens see what goes on in the department,” Miller said. “We’re a very community-oriented police department because our community treats us extremely well. Ever since Officer (Derek) Kotecki was killed back in 2011, the community has come together ever since then.”

Haidze said he thinks everybody in Lower Burrell should attend at least one Citizen’s Police Academy session.

“Learning about policing and the legal system is invaluable,” he said. “Everybody should do it. The lessons that Scott has lined up for them are fantastic. I wish my parents would do it.”

The class size is limited to 25 people, and the most recent discussion about the criminal justice system filled nearly every chair in the room.

Yakopec discussed the types of cases that come up in her courtroom.

“We do a lot of traffic cases, something everybody can identify with,” she said. “Those are the speeding, and the stop sign cases and driving with an invalid inspection or registration or even driving with an invalid license. I always tell people to ask for a hearing. A lot of times when they get in the courtroom and talk to the officer and say ‘can you cut (the fine) down?’ and we all will agree. Instead of 20 miles over the speed limit, we can reduce it to 5 miles over the speed limit, which means you don’t get any points; it’s the lowest fine.

“In fact, today, I had a guy come in and he said the officer even told him, ‘Ask for a hearing and I’ll give you a break.’ He had like four or five citations.”

Yakopec said she has a good job and she enjoys it.

“I get to help a lot of people,” she said. “That’s what I like about it.” People say, ‘How can you do that?’ But some days are very rewarding. I had one guy who was abusing his spouse, and I sent him to domestic abuse counseling. I saw him at Giant Eagle months later, and he’s coming toward me and I’m thinking, ‘Oh no.’ And he said to me, ‘You know you sent me to that domestic abuse counseling, and I am now a counselor down there and I just wanted to thank you.’ And so that makes me feel good. It’s like, OK, so the system is working.”

Many of those in attendance were anxious to hear what Ziccarelli had to say. She spent a lot of time discussing the problem of inadequate pay for prosecutors and public defenders causing staffing shortages in Westmoreland County that have led to criminal cases being postponed.

“We used to be able to compete with Allegheny County,” Ziccarelli said. “The DA’s Association across the commonwealth did a survey on salaries, and we’re the worst. We’re a third-class county. We are a huge county, and we pay our people terribly. How are we going to ask our attorneys to come out and either be a public defender or be a prosecutor and make around $50,000? It’s not going to work.

“If you ask for anything to come out of this (meeting), I would say please, please, write to our commissioners and say, ‘You’ve got to compensate our people a lot better.’ We are losing prosecutors who are veteran homicide prosecutors because we can’t keep them. They are leaving for private practice.”