Earlier this week, Officer Mike Bennett of the Clinton Police Department offered up some helpful tips as the 2015-16 school year gets going across the area.

With school started in Clinton Wednesday, Officer Bennett officially began his latest role as the district's resource officer. He indicates he looks forward to the challenge of monitoring six buildings across the community and working with administrators, teachers and students this year.

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Last year in the district, Officer Bennet was instrumental in getting a womens self-defense program going. He says that class is something he's put in place in LeRoy when he was an officer there.

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Now Officer Bennet hopes to take that self defense program to the junior high school level. He explains there will be some different elements to make it more age appropriate but he says there are some sad realities students of all age need to be aware of.

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One program Officer Bennett is excited to introduce is an internship program through the department. He says this was a very successful program they offered in LeRoy and he hopes to make it just as successful in Clinton.

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Potential interns would be with a different officer throughout their internship. Officer Bennet indicates they hope to have the student for an hour or two each day and introduce them to the many different aspects of law enforcement.