It happens all the time.

You're driving down the road and a police officer pulls out behind you. You check your rearview mirror, your speed, and put both hands on the wheel as beads of sweat start to form and your heart pounds.

"There can't be anything wrong," you think. But you're wracking your brain for reasons you might be pulled over.

This happened a few days ago on my way to the office. I checked my rear view mirror and my speed -- then eagerly checked my mirror again to see if I knew the officer.

After spending the past 13 Wednesday nights learning about the King County Sheriff's Office and meeting deputies in Burien and SeaTac, it's hard not to look at who's in the police car behind you.

I was encouraged to attend the Police Citizen's Academy by my editor who took the class a few years before. I asked him what it was about and he said, "You learn about the police force and have fun."

Two words that you don't normally think would go together, police force and fun. But I took it as an assignment and signed up for the class.

It's free and open to anyone who lives or works in Burien or SeaTac.

Every Wednesday night, you meet at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center in Burien, have dinner, and the next three hours fly.

While you hear interesting and informative presentations from King County deputies on a variety of topics, not every class is a sit-down-and-listen session. Hands-on learning is part of the mix, too.

One night my classmates and I stepped into the shoes of a police officer with the Fire Arms Training Simulator (F.A.T.S.).

I stood before a large screen and simulated the experience of walking through a park with my partner when we came upon a distressed woman in front of bathroom.

After asking her to leave she reached in her purse, pulled out a gun out and aimed it at me.

I froze, but then realized I needed to fire back or else get shot. By then, she had fired two shots at me. I pulled the trigger multiple times.

When the simulation was over, my heart was racing and I felt like an idiot. I had fired seven times, not once hit the suspect, and apparently was dead.

The gun I shot that night only fired a laser, but on range night we fired real guns.

The K9 Unit attended one night and showed his skill at tracking and catching a criminal.

An awesome presentation about evaluating a crash scene was made by the Major Accident Response and Reconstruction Team. I'm pretty sure I sat there with my mouth open in awe the entire time.

But if the 13-week class was the cake, then the ride along with a deputy is the icing.

Last week, I was scheduled to ride with Deputy Mark Brown in the White Center area between 2 and 5 p.m. In the first hour we apprehended a drunk and took him home, then arrested a man for shoplifting.

By the time 5 p.m. rolled around, it was too early to go home. To be honest, it was highly addicting, so I stayed the whole shift until 10 p.m.

As evening approached, we pulled over an erratic driver who just happened to have a warrant out for his arrest. We took him downtown - to jail.

On our way back to White Center, an important call came through and Deputy Brown went "code," so I'm clutching my door handle with a white-knuckle grip as we're going 100 mph down SR 509.

Riding through White Center in a police car is a completely different experience and you're able to see it through a new light. Not necessarily a good light.

But Deputy Brown and Deputy Steve Cox, who we teamed up with that night, were amazing to watch and deserve an enormous amount of credit.

The amount of information offered to those willing to learn through the Citizens Police Academy is something to take advantage of.

I'm impressed by our police force and what they're able to do for Burien and SeaTac -- and in 13 weeks you can be too.