NEWS
March 13, 1989 | By Desmond Ryan, Inquirer Movie Critic
When Hugh Wilson made the first Police Academy in 1984, the basic comic idea was that the city had abandoned all physical and psychological standards for entrance to its law-enforcement academy. The movie's sequels have proved that much the same policy is in force in the nation's movie theaters. Police Academy films have become one of the wrongs of spring. Now as the weather turns warmer, dread springs eternal. The Phillies come north with another team guaranteed to have grown men cringing by early May, and Warner Bros.
NEWS
April 6, 1987 | By Desmond Ryan, Inquirer Movie Critic
When Bubba Smith played football for Michigan State, the fans used to urge the giant defensive lineman to "Kill, Bubba, kill!" Bubba often nearly obliged, but it is too much to hope that he might turn on the makers of the Police Academy series with the same homicidal flair he once brought to the pursuit of enemy quarterbacks. For one thing, the astounding success of this witless series assures Smith and the other graduates a very good living. A Police Academy movie has now become one of the wrongs of spring.
NEWS
June 7, 2011
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden County College have created a partnership to keep the county's police academy functioning, officials said Monday. Earl Coxson, who ran the academy as an employee of the Prosecutor's Office, was laid off this year, possibly jeopardizing the operations of the academy. Under the agreement, effective July 1, the college will assume Coxson's annual salary of about $60,000, according to the Camden County Board of Freeholders. The Prosecutor's Office will continue to assign an investigator and a clerical employee to staff the academy, which will not accept new recruits until January.
NEWS
March 22, 1988 | By Desmond Ryan, Inquirer Movie Critic
You can have being worked over with a nightstick or 10 hours of third- degree interrogation. For sheer police brutality, nothing comes close to sitting through Police Academy 5. In fact, it's so dreadful that I would recommend seeing it only with an attorney present. Except that no one - not even a lawyer - should be subjected to such cruel and unusual punishment. Anyone who has made it past 11 - in years or IQ - will know that you don't go to a Police Academy movie unprepared.
ENTERTAINMENT
March 22, 1986 | By Desmond Ryan, Inquirer Movie Critic
Cynics may scoff, but there really is one brief and shining moment in Police Academy 3: Back in Training. It comes at the opening of the film, when the numbskull governor of California suffers an attack of taste and says it's time to close down the academy. But before grown-ups have a chance to rise as one and cheer to the rafters, this is revealed to be another Hollywood lie on the order of "Steven (Spielberg) read your script, and he loves it. " The Police Academy series tries to get more out of old garbage than the nearest recycling plant.
NEWS
April 4, 1989 | By Bill Miller, Inquirer Staff Writer
The cameras were clicking, the videotapes were rolling, and the audience was on its feet, applauding, as 61 men and 29 women filed into the Philadelphia Civic Center yesterday to become members of the city's Police Department. The VIPs - including Mayor Goode and Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams - saluted the courage and determination of the new officers. Besides the speeches, there was rousing music from the Pasttimers, a police band. It was a day to celebrate - for all concerned.
NEWS
July 26, 1987 | By Christopher Hand, Special to The Inquirer
David Wurzburg of Hainesport said his father had been trying for years to get him to cut his shoulder-length hair. "I had never had short hair before, and I was always afraid to get it cut, sir!" said the 18-year-old, who now sports a high-and-tight buzz cut. For the last week, Wurzburg, a heavy cigarette smoker, has been waking up each morning at 5:30, performing strenuous calisthenics and running 1.5 miles each day. He's also started addressing people he doesn't know as "Sir.
NEWS
August 10, 1989 | By Edward Moran, Daily News Staff Writer
Police Officer Gerald Gallagher was like a proud parent. For the past five months he had helped guide 72 men and women through the rigors of Police Academy training. Yesterday, as they lined up to receive their diplomas, Gallagher reached out to shake their hands, slap their backs, and wish them "godspeed. " When it was Officer Franklin Steed's turn to thank Gallagher, he ignored his outstretched hand, threw his arms around the veteran cop, and hugged him instead. "He was like a father to me," said Steed, 30. If making it through the academy was a strain, it did not show on the faces of the 49 men and 23 women who graduated yesterday.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 6, 1987 | By BEN YAGODA, Daily News Movie Critic
"Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol," a comedy starring Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, G.W. Bailey, Bobcat Goldthwait and George Gaynes. Directed by Jim Drake. Screenplay by Gene Quintano. Running time: 87 minutes. A Warner Brothers release. "Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol" has jokes about bodily (and birds') functions, a pompous guy whose pants rip and who gets a bullhorn Krazy-glued to his face, some excellent skateboarding, rock music, a joke about Mace deodorant, a guy (Michael Winslow)
NEWS
October 29, 2006 | By Mary Anne Janco INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Crouched behind the door of the police car, with his weapon drawn, Thomas Thompson kept his eyes on the car in front that had been stopped in connection with an armed robbery. With loud, clear commands, Thompson, a cadet at the Delaware County Community College Municipal Police Academy, ordered the driver to show his hands, then slowly get out of the car. "Gun," he called out as he spotted a weapon in the driver's waistband. Thompson ordered the driver to keep his hands on his head and drop to his knees, crossing his ankles.