With 26 acres of Academy grounds dedicated to the driving course, Officer Melissa Cicio and her team of instructors have enough room to create multiple courses or combine the track into one large progression for instruction, including pursuit training.
“They have never driven their own car like this, so I tell them, ‘Look, don't baby the car, it's not your grandma's Cadillac, you're not going to church on Sunday,’” Officer Cicio says.
By collaborating with the department’s dispatchers, Officer Cicio and her team build training scenarios that mirror what CMPD’s finest respond to each day, from kidnappings to armed robberies and carjackings.
In the state of North Carolina, only the CMPD Academy and North Carolina Highway Patrol Training Academy have dedicated driving courses.