CJIS Community Outreach Recap: Fall 2023
February 29, 2024
Fall 2023 was a busy time for the volunteers in the Community Outreach Program (COP) at the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division.
CJIS Volunteers Help Build Beds for Children in Need
Approximately 50 CJIS Division volunteered their time to the nonprofit organization Sleep in Heavenly Peace Mega Bed Build near a local hospital on September 30, 2023. Volunteers helped build 300 beds in 8 hours for underprivileged children in Harrison County, West Virginia.
CJIS Welcomes Newest Junior Special Agents
Forty-eight fifth-grade students from a local elementary school graduated from the 2023 Junior Special Agent Academy on October 10, 2023, in a special ceremony at the CJIS Division auditorium. COP volunteers also visited the elementary school to honor the students for their accomplishments in the program over the previous four weeks. At the school, some volunteers talked about their careers at the FBI, and others discussed online safety.
CJIS Hosts 20th Jerry Dove Memorial 5K
Despite an overcast and rainy morning, 111 dedicated runners and walkers took part in the 20th Jerry Dove Memorial 5K on the FBI’s CJIS Division campus in Clarksburg, West Virginia, on October 14, 2023. The race—as well as the roadway that leads to the CJIS Division—are named in honor of FBI Special Agent Jerry Dove, a West Virginia native who was killed in the line of duty during a shootout in Miami on April 11, 1986. The FBI CJIS Citizens Academy Alumni Association sponsored the event. A portion of the race's proceeds went towards scholarship funds.
Class in Session for High Schoolers
CJIS’s COP also hosted its 2023 single-day Teen Academy, with 81 students from 32 high schools from across West Virginia in attendance, in October 2023. The students heard presentations about online safety and drug prevention. Additionally, they attended demonstrations on iris, fingerprint, and facial recognition. Students also witnessed the skills of an FBI Police K-9s assigned to the CJIS campus.
First Fall Semester for College Students
After hosting its first-ever Collegiate Academy in the spring, CJIS welcomed 54 students from four West Virginia-based universities to take part in the inaugural fall edition of the Collegiate Academy on November 9, 2023. The students received overviews of biometrics, technology, and psychology in law enforcement. They also saw a demonstration at a firearms training. All CJIS Division sections were represented in an effort to promote and recruit potentially interested students into careers with the FBI and, more specifically, the CJIS Division.
