Announcing the First Richmond FBI Senior Citizens Academy

Since fall 2003, the Richmond Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been offering, as part of their Community Outreach Program, a Citizens Academy (CA). To date, the division has hosted 15 CA sessions and graduated roughly 300 participants representing businesses, media, academia, politics, community activists, and service organizations.

Recognizing that seniors play a vital role in community awareness and policing and are often victims of crime, the Richmond Division has decided to host the first FBI Senior Citizens Academy (SCA). The SCA will be very similar to the initial CA (http://www.fbi.gov/richmond/news-and-outreach/outreach/ca-main), giving participants the opportunity to look inside the FBI, meet the dedicated men and women of the Richmond Division, and become a part of the solution to crime issues within their community. Presentations would include topics such as civil rights, computer crimes, gangs and violent crime, identity theft, white collar crime, domestic terrorism, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and the Bureau’s Evidence Response Team.

Each applicant for the SCA must live and/or work in the Richmond Division’s territory (http://www.fbi.gov/richmond/contact-us/territory-jurisdiction), be age 55 or older, have no prior felony convictions, have no misdemeanor arrests within one year of attempting to enter the SCA, sign a waiver statement and consent to a criminal records check, agree to attend all sessions of the SCA with no more than two absences, and remain active and participate in the CA Alumni Association after graduation.

This SCA will be held on Tuesday afternoons from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Richmond FBI Field Office, located at 1970 East Parham Road in Richmond. There will be one additional weekday (Wednesday) where participants are taken to the FBI’s Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia for a tour, and a Saturday session for a “Range Day” experience. It is anticipated that these sessions will begin May 1, 2012 and run through June 5, 2012.

If you are interested in participating in this new FBI initiative—the FBI Senior Citizens Academy—please send a written request to Community Outreach Specialist Dee Rybiski at FBI-Richmond, Post Office Box 28060, Richmond, Virginia 23228 or e-mail at Dennette.Rybiski@ic.fbi.gov. Please include in your letter/e-mail your name and all contact information (address and phone numbers), a list of community and/or employment organizations, including prior employment that you are currently engaged with, and an explanation of how you could share the information gleaned from this academy with others.