We've all seen how police officers handle situations on TV but do you really know what their job is all about?

The Chippewa Falls Citizen’s Police Academy gives people a first hand look into law enforcement.

Thursday night twelve hand picked-people learned the ins and outs of using a service weapon, traffic stops and handcuffing. It sounds fun but its serious work. Being a police officer is not all fun and games. Thursday civilians learned there is a lot an officer has to think about at all times. When to shoot. When not to shoot. Does the criminal have a weapon? Will they resist arrest? All these decisions need to be made in a split second and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Director of the Citizen’s Police Academy and Chippewa Falls Lieutenant Mark Hanson says "we're not aiming to make them very proficient at what we do. We just want them to have a better understanding of what they're police department is capable of doing for them in the community."

TV and movies give a false impression of officers. Chasing a bank robber, high speed chases and shooting out tires, don’t happen as often as you may think. The point of the civilian academy is education.

Hanson says "it is a great opportunity to kind of bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community it serves."

The civilian academy started in 1995 and each year 12 civilians go through a 3 hour course once a week for 7 weeks.

"Which really helps us do our job better. We really rely on the support and confidence of our community" says Hanson.

The civilians learn about many topics including department structure, hand cuffing and high risk traffic stops, domestic violence, death investigations and a favorite of all, firearms and use of deadly force.

Hanson says it really "opens up the police department and gives us an opportunity to explain to a variety of people from our community what is we do, why we what we do, how we do it."

Officer Hanson says the biggest misperception is that officers are not approachable, are not friendly and are only militaristic. He says they hope the people who go through this program and in the community realize officers are there for them in any situation.