Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a series of columns where Kate reflects on and documents her time in the Citizen’s Police Academy. However, she is not participating in the academy in her capacity as a reporter, but as a citizen of Covington.

This past Tuesday was the first meeting of the Covington Police Department’s Citizen’s Police Academy. I’ve never done anything like this before, so let me tell you why I wanted to attend and document it with this column.

For starters, I’m aware that most of you readers don’t know me. And I don’t mean in like a “you just don’t know the real me” way, but in the sense that I am not a Newton County native. 

Unlike most of the staff here at The Covington News, I was unfamiliar with Newton County and its cities when I took on this role. I don’t have longstanding relationships or family friends in Newton or even the surrounding counties. But as someone from a small Georgia community myself, I understand the importance of interpersonal connections.

I am not the kind of person to overlook that shortcoming. I wanted to immerse myself in the city and become a known figure. Don’t misunderstand – I’m not trying to be a prominent person, nor am I ‘power hungry’ or anything of that nature. I just understand the value of community and the importance of personal relationships and wish to be a recognizable face.

Nonetheless, my circumstances didn’t allow me to actually become a Newton County resident until July, though I’ve held this role since January. 

Because of this, I’ve been very intentional about what my perception is with the readers of The News, though I haven’t spoken outwardly about this before. I was, to put it plainly, an outsider reporting on the inner workings and activities of a community that I—until recently—held no personal stake in. But trust that this was not lost on me; I was very aware of this fact and exerted effort to work with the nuance of any resident.

In those first months attending city council and commissioner meetings, I took in information like a sponge. I listened to citizen comments with rapt attention and combed through social media comments with a watchful eye as I tried to learn what the regular citizens—the body of Newton County—cared about. 

One thing that caught my eye was the Covington Police Department’s Citizen’s Police Academy. At the end of each session, the class holds a “graduation ceremony” before the Covington City Council. As a frequent flyer of the council meetings, I made a mental note to look into this in the future. 

So a few weeks ago, when I saw the application posted to the police department’s Facebook page, I decided to dive in.

By participating, I want to show this community and anyone who may just know me as a nosy newsperson that I do care about Covington and Newton County. Though I have no roots here and am still kind of a loner as I make my way, I haven’t come to tear a community down, find cracks in the pavement or incite infighting. 

Though I have a journalistic responsibility to publish the bad as well as the good, the good is what makes this job worthwhile. I care about spotlighting fundraisers and helping garner support as much as I recognize the necessity of reporting on government activity or criminal investigations.

And by participating in this academy, maybe I can begin to plant those community roots that I lack.

I hope that, as a former outsider, I can begin to be recognized for my impartiality and blanket coverage of all things in this community. I hope to be known as willing to help and easy to talk to, while unshakingly committed to impartiality. 

After all, I’m a Verity.

Kate Verity is the news editor of The Covington News. Email comments to kverity@covnews.com.