BURBANK—The Armenian National Committee of America—Burbank (ANCA—B) held its second quarterly meeting with Burbank’s Police Department. ANCA—B members Silva Kechichian and Nanneh Chehras met with Chief of Police Scott LaChasse and Deputy Chief Thomas P. Angel on July 13. Recruitment and language services were among the topics discussed, but the upcoming Community Police Academy was strongly emphasized.
“The Burbank Police Department is anxious to establish clear channels of communication with the Armenian community. In addition, the staff is desirous of partnering with members of our communities to develop solutions to items of mutual concern. Toward these ends, the Police Department has established the Community Police Academy Program which acquaints community members with the responsibilities, operations, organization and programs of the Department. The Community Police Academy will be offered in English, Armenian and Spanish this year. Community members may register for the Academy that bests suits their language skills,” explains Chief LaChasse.
The Community Police Academy begins on September 5th and will run through November 14th. Classes are held once a week in the evening and graduates are eligible to become Burbank Police Department volunteers and assist Police personnel in the station.
Chief LaChasse continues, “We look forward to providing our community members with this unique opportunity to better understand the Burbank Police Department as well as to initiating ongoing, meaningful communications.”
ANCA—B wants to stress the importance in encouraging community members to participate. Please email info@burbankanc.org to request an application or contact the Burbank Community Resource Officer at 818-238-3235 if you have any questions.
“ANCA-B is continuously seeking to educate and inform our community. We very excited to have Burbank Police Department conduct a separate Academy in Armenian for Armenian community. The academy classes will be a great opportunity to graduates to become a Burbank Police Department volunteer.” said Silva Kechichian ANCA-B chair as it was announced in the Burbank Police Department Official News Release.
The Armenian National Committee of America – Burbank advances the social, economic, cultural and political rights of the area’s Armenian American community and promotes increased Armenian American civic participation at the grassroots and public policy levels.
I am glad that the ANCA has established channels of communication with the Burbank police department. It is shameful that Burbank Armenian police officers were harrassed. The Burbank PD obviously has some idiots in it’s ranks and they need to be kicked out and some Armenian officers need to be brought in especially to go after the so-called” Armenian Power” gang. The Armenian power gang are all from Baku Azerbajian and they should go back to Baku because they are more Azeri than Armenian. These shameless thugs are a threat to all Armenians and we need to help the police get rid of them.