WTC police academy students trade in studies, training for Community Build Day with Habitat Citrus County
Under sunny skies and cool temperatures Saturday, April 6, five students from Withlacoochee Technical College’s Public Safety Training Center put their studies and training aside for hammers and other tools for a Community Build Day for Habitat for Humanity of Citrus County (HFHCC) at its Habitat at Citrus Springs development.
From helping grade lots, to scraping floors to prep them for tile work to installing vinyl siding, the students led by David Vincent, public safety training ce
Denise Barber, administrative secretary for Withlacoochee Technical College’s Public Safety Training Center, helps put up siding Saturday, April 6, under the watchful eye of core volunteer Dave Powell, whose reflection can be seen in the window. Five students, along with Barber and Chief David Vincent, from Withlacoochee Technical College’s Public Safety Training Center put their studies and training for hammers and other tools for a Community Build Day for Habitat for Humanity of Citrus County (HFHCC) at its Habitat at Citrus Springs development.
nter director, and Denise Barber, administrative secretary, worked side-by-side with future Habitat homeowners and core volunteers for a glimpse into the work partner families put in toward achieving their dream of homeownership.
“We at HFHCC are honored to have our future law enforcement officers and first responders out at our jobsite to assist us in building homes for our partner families,” said Justin Leech, HFHCC Chief Operating Officer. “We know that they are undergoing intensive training and studies, and it speaks volumes about them as future community leaders to take time to put in the hard work to help us achieve our mission of providing attainable housing in our community.”
Vincent, who has worked in law enforcement in Citrus County for the past 31 years, considers it viable for recruits to understand the importance of serving their communities beyond their normal day-to-day duties. In the police academy, there are chapters about serving the communities in which they work.
“To me, community policing is a huge part of what we do in law enforcement, but it’s more than that,” said Vincent, whose been the chief of police for the Citrus County School District since 2020 after a 27-year career with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office. “And just changing that perception, especially with our recruits, if we start engraining that in them right from the academy level and say, ‘Hey, this is a big part of whatever community it is you serve.’ Because a lot of our recruits will go out and serve other communities other than Citrus County. But this gives them a good example of what community service really looks like.
“It’s not only benefiting the community, but it’s benefiting individual future homeowners who are out here with them as well.”
Developing relationships with citizens is key in law enforcement, Vincent said.
“I think for the future, for our profession to be successful, you must be able to get out and talk to peopl
e,” he explained. “I think that’s one thing that is missing a little bit versus 30 years ago in policing, is that ability to just stop and take those few minutes to get out and talk to people more.”
This helps break down those barriers a little bit and get out of their comfort zone, Vincent said.
“You never know, in six months from now one of those recruits could be out (in Citrus Springs) patrolling this up here or maybe even tell their field training officer, ‘I was up here building these houses,’” Vincent said.
If your organization, civic group, church or business would like to schedule a Community Build Day, call Jeff Bryan, communications manager, at 352-563-2744 or email [email protected].
