 Participants will take part in hands-on interactive lessons from various specialty units of the Southbound Police Department, including patrol, SWAT, crime scene technicians, bomb squad, hostage and crisis negotiators, the K-9 unit, and more. You have to be 18 or older and agree to a criminal background check. We posted a link to the application at 953MNC.com. John Zimney, MNC News. John Zimney has always wanted to be a police officer. Yes. So he went through that academy. Yes, he did. And got a lot out of it.