Carter, a retired Knightdale resident, crouched in a corner as he played one of the "bad guys" in a recent scenario at the Citizen Police Academy. An academy student, acting as a police officer, was responding to a tripped alarm at Town Hall.

It was nighttime. The lights were cut. And "bad guys" like Carter were instructed to do one of three things during the exercise while hiding in Town Hall: run away from the officer, give themselves up, or attack.

As he hid, Carter watched the citizen police officer sweat and tremble, reacting to each creak in the floor, click of the air conditioner, and shift in the shadows.

Who knew such a routine call could be so tense?

"Doing the exercises makes you realize how easily (police) can be ambushed and how vulnerable they are," Carter said last Tuesday upon graduation of the academy. "And they deal with those situations all the time."

Carter was one of about 20 residents to enroll in Knightdale's first Citizen Police Academy - where, in classroom and real-life settings, civilians learned about the daily trials of a police officer.

Assistant Knightdale police Chief Jason Godwin and officer Lawrence Capps led weekly discussions and exercises on the criminal justice system, drug awareness, vehicle stops, gun safety, and searches and seizures among other policing topics.

The two-hour, Tuesday night lessons for the last eight weeks were aimed at revealing the "human side" of police work, educating residents on police procedures, and even helping local cops learn from citizens how they could better serve the town.

"We wanted them to realize the split-second decisions that we as police officers have to make everyday," Godwin said. "It's not like they see on TV: where an officer jumps through a window, fires five shots and six bad guys go down.

"We may be in uniforms but we want both us and residents to be able to better relate and help each other."

Exercises like vehicle and building searches reveal to residents like Carter the large potential for human error.

For example, most of the students fared well during the building searches. But one student, in the heat of the moment, accidentally shot (with an air-soft gun) a bad guy who was surrendering himself, Godwin said.

Upon graduation last Tuesday, students - as young as 17 and as old as about 70 - felt a renewed appreciation for Knightdale's men and women in uniform.

"Police can be a little standoff-ish, but it's because they're the ones who are trying to make it through the end of the day alive," Carter said.

"These guys are so exposed when they have to investigate something," Don Earwood, a retired IBM-er, said. "This was great opportunity to learn just how much they put their lives on the line."

"I think most people take for granted that (police) put their lives in danger every day - no matter how routine their tasks might seem," added Charles Rampani.

As much as the academy was a fun practice to pretend, students also took away useful tips to use in daily life.

Rampani, for instance, said he plans to share his newfound knowledge of gangs and gang colors to his neighbors next week at the first community watch meeting for the Churchill subdivision.

"Who knew that different colors mean different things? I had no idea that (wearing) purple in the drug culture means (that a person is selling) ecstasy," Rampani said.

Police said they'll continue to conduct the citizen academy not just to continue educating interested residents, but also to strengthen the bond and trust between the department and the community.

"The people we serve have a unique perspective that we sincerely value and need to not lose touch with," Capps said.