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Ridgewood PD sponsors first annual Chief Michael Feeney Junior Police Academy this summer

SHOUT OUT: Ridgewood police are holding their first annual Chief Michael Feeney Junior Police Academy from June 26 to July 2, fulfilling a dream of the popular 10-year-old honorary village police chief who lost a battle with cancer in late November of last year .

Photo Credit: RIDGEWOOD PD:
Photo Credit: RIDGEWOOD PD
Photo Credit: RIDGEWOOD PD:
Photo Credit: Mary Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
Photo Credit: RIDGEWOOD PD:

The Academy is FREE to Ridgewood residents ages 10 to 14.

Courtesy: RIDGEWOOD PD

It will be held at the Benjamin Frankling Middle School from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day, with a field trip to the Bergen County Police Academy on day three.

Students will learn about what it takes to be a police officer and the tasks that they perform.

Demonstrations are scheduled throughout the week from the Ridgewood Police Department and various agencies — among them, the Bergen County Police Department Bomb Squad and K-9 units, Ridgewood EMS and Emergency Services, Ridgewood Fire Department, Motorcycle Patrol, computer crimes and many more.

Upon completion of the Academy the students will be invited to march with the Ridgewood Police Department in the village Fourth of July parade.

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MORE INFO/APPLICATIONS: Ridgewood Police HQ, 131 N Maple Ave. (201) 670-5518)

OR CONTACT:

Lt. Glenn Ender (gedner@ridgewoodnj.net)
Ptl. Joseph Youngberg (jyoungberg@ridgewoodnj.net)

ALSO SEE: rpd.ridgewoodnj.net

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Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward had given the fun-loving fifth-grader his own badge for the special “Chief for a Day” event sponsored by Bergen County Sheriff Michaul Saudino last June.

But Michael gave it back, telling the chief in serious tones that he needed it.

So Ward had a special honorary police shield made that the brave youngster’s family said he carried everywhere.

Michael also became heavily involved in the creation of one of the youngster’s dreams, the junior police academy.

Michael was 6 when he contracted Ewing’s sarcoma, an extremely rare, aggressive and often fatal bone cancer that ordinarily develops in children and young adults. Chemotherapy and radiation failed, as did alternative treatments.

He nonetheless remained bubbly and bright, despite shoulder replacement and the ravages of his disease. He lost his hair, and often had headaches from the treatments, but he kept up his weight — and his grades Hawes Elementary School.

Michael also played his favorite sports — soccer, lacrosse and basketball — and rooted hard for his beloved Giants and Yankees.

“He recently told me that he wasn’t worried about himself but about how his family was dealing with it all,” Ward told CLIFFVIEW PILOT last year. “It’s the very definition of courage.”

RELATED: Police funeral for Ridgewood honorary chief Michael Feeney, 10

Mike, with Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward, at June “Chief for a Day” event in Hackensack (PHOTO: Mary Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

PHOTOS, below, courtesy RIDGEWOOD PD:

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