The goals of citizen police academies, designed to provide a mechanism for educating the public about the criminal justice system and the ways to resist crime, include gaining support for police work, explaining the operations of police agencies, and encouraging private citizens to undertake appropriate security measures. In 1985, the Orlando, Florida Police Department organized the first citizen police academy in the United States, modeled after the United Kingdom's British Night School for private citizens. Subsequently, communities in Missouri City, Texas and Commerce City, Colorado introduced citizen police academies. Citizen participation expands community-based crime prevention efforts and offers police departments the opportunity to learn about the concerns of their communities. Expanding the role of these police academies would reduce most of the current disadvantages such as the tendency of newly certified citizen instructors to overemphasize public relations rather than focus on crime prevention topics. 5 footnotes