This summer, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), in conjunction with the D.C. Office on Aging, will welcome its introductory class of the Senior Citizens’ Police Academy. The brainchild of City Administrator Robert Bobb, the 12-week program, which starts in June, will train District elders to do community policing. Seniors “are already the eyes and ears of the community,” says Office on Aging Director E. Veronica Pace. Classes will include lectures such as “The Insider’s Guide to the MPD” and hands-on activities such as “Shoot and Don’t Shoot”—a video-game simulation involving electronic weapons and threats on a moving screen. Though Ani Russell, the department’s director of policing for prevention, says the academy will empower participants, she doesn’t expect any vigilante grannies. “There is going to be a class taught on what you can and can’t do as private citizens,” she says. —Constantine Caloudas