About Us

The mission of the Doug Woodham Dallas Junior Police Academy (JPA) is to help area residents become law-abiding citizens through collaboration with local law enforcement officials and community groups. The moto of Dallas JPA is “Making Better Choices”, we try to instill this in every student through our curriculum.

JPA began in 2010 with one basic class of 13 students. Today we have 3 basic classes each consisting of 80 students in grades 4 – 8 and one advanced class of 30 students for grades 9 – 12. We hope to continually grow the number of classes we provide to the community each year.

JPA is a partnership between the Doug Woodham Dallas Junior Police Academy and the Dallas Police Department. Both citizen volunteers and DPD officers and DPD Reserve Battalion officers run the day-long academy classes. We provide quality speakers that address current issues.

In 2012 JPA was approved as a 501(c)(3) organization. All our classes are entirely funded by donations and grants.

JPA began a feasibility study in our November 2012 class, through the Caruth Police Institute, to track the impact the classes are making with the students and their attitudes towards police officers and choices they make in regards to gangs, drugs, alcohol consumption, etc. The study will follow some of the students until they graduate high school to see if the ideals JPA teaches make a difference in their lives.