Speaking in public

This is something I hate to do.  I never took speech class in high school for this reason.  When I was asked to give a speech at our graduation from the citizens’ police academy, I didn’t know what to say.  I was shocked that she asked me because we had lots of people there in the class, but I was also flattered.  She said she asked because I was writing a mystery series of books and wanted my perspective of the academy once it was over.  I have a hard time saying no too, so I told her I’d do it.  I had one day notice and was a bundle of nerves.

I sat down at my computer that night to type up something I had roughed out earlier in the day.  I was going to use bullet points and then speak letting those jog my memory, but in the end I ended up writing a two page double-spaced speech to read.  I figured I’d probably get tongue-tied and it was better to have everything written up that I wanted to say.  And I didn’t want to leave anything out.

The next day before class I went over it again and printed it out.  My neighbor was my guinea pig and good enough to listen to it beforehand.  I was grateful for that.  I got a bit emotional while reading it to her.  I thought I’d be a basket case at the graduation.  After all, the mayor, chief of police and deputy chief would all be there, along with a few of the officers.  However, I tried not to think about all this as I drove over.  I do speak to strangers at Costco all day long, day in and day out, so I tried to envision my audience in that way.  I have no problem at all talking about my demo all day long.

The mayor spoke first and then the police chief.  I thought “oh no!  I’m next.”  But as it turned out another older man and volunteer at the department was called next and then I was last before our completion certificates were handed out, along with a class picture we took a few weeks ago.  We were called up in alphabetical order and had to walk to the front, much like any graduation, except there was no cap and gown.  Afterwards we had to go down the line and shake hands with the mayor, police chief and deputy chief and the officers there that got in that line.  The officers were all gracious and thanked me for saying such nice things about them.  I meant every word.

 Our binder of info, the graduation certificate and class picture

 

I did become a bit emotional as I told them how sorry I was the class was over, how nice and prepared all the officers were and how passionate about their jobs they are.  I wanted to thank them all because I learned so much and I know it took a great deal of their time to prepare all the presentations for us.  We had power point slides and handouts.

After that we all had snacks that were nicely laid out on two big tables in the back of the room.  There were sandwiches, chips and dip, veggie trays and fruit platters.  The water was in big, clear glass dispensers, one with lemon slices and the other without.  It was all very nice.  We formed small groups and talked about the class as we ate with our fellow classmates.  Of course we joked about not knowing what to do on Tuesday and Thursdays nights now that the class was over.  We decided we might need a support group, or an advanced class. 

A few of the class members have stopped by for some samples at Costco since that night.

I’m still looking for the right frame for my diploma and class picture and will hang it proudly on my office wall.  

Many firsts

Citizens' Police Academy continues

Now that isn’t a bad thing at all.  This citizens’ police academy has been such a nice experience that I would encourage anyone to sign up; if you have a program like this where you live.  So much has happened since I last wrote about my classes but I don’t want to bore any of you with everything that goes on, although nothing has been boring to me.

I’ve truly had more going on in my life the last month than I’ve had in a long time.  Last Thursday’s class we all met at the jail in the next town over.  I hardly ever drive there, but I found it just fine. 

The sheriff’s department is also in this building.  We had a simulator on three giant movie screens in their training room where we gathered and could actually strap on a laser gun and answer dispatch calls, as if we were the police officer responding to the calls.  This was very interesting.  Then we got to interview a prisoner in the jail.  They brought him into the room in shackles.  How many of you out there have ever done that?  It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.  The man is serving a twenty year sentence for murder that he got reduced to manslaughter.  It was his first offense.  He gets out in three years and seems to have changed his life while in prison.  He’s spent his time going to school and has earned two bachelor’s degrees.  His intention is to help future parolees obtain jobs and help them to adapt back into regular life.

 I took no pictures in this class and the following pictures will be equipment only and not any people.

The only disappointment in this night was that we didn’t get to see the booking process firsthand.  I’ll ask about that in a future class, if we’re allowed to make suggestions.  Of course I would have actually liked to have toured the jail itself, but I imagine they thought it might be a danger to us so that wasn’t offered.

 This is some of the bomb squad equipment

 

Saturday’s class was a morning one so I had to drag my butt out of bed and get my act together.  Thankfully the shooting range is only about ten minutes from my house.  It was drizzling and a nasty day with highs in the fifties, but we all assembled there and got to watch demos from the bomb squad, SWAT team and the motorcycle patrol.  Their training facility for some of this stuff is up there at the shooting range.

 This is one of the explosions I took a pic of

 

This coming Tuesday we get to meet the canine patrol and view a demo by the drug dog, Emma.  In conclusion, I have to say they have put together a great program that must have taken many man hours to prepare.  I have a three-inch binder full of information now.  Plus I have some business cards in case I want to interview any of these people later when the serious rewrite for my books begin.

I finally had to break down and do it

I’m talking about going to the doctor, which I hate to do.  I always try home remedies first and usually only see the doctor once a year.  I keep a positive attitude and am always optimistic about things, even when times look bleak.  Usually I can fix whatever it is myself, but sometimes it takes the advice of a sister or friend.  This usually always works.

In mid-December I had to go to the doctor when I came home from work with a fever and still had it the next day.  I had a bad cold and a sinus infection.  I think I probably wrote about that in a previous post.  The situation now is a bad case of athlete’s foot I can’t get rid of.  I’ve been trying home remedies for the last few weeks.  I attribute this to having to wear socks and sneakers daily at work.  My feet do not like socks and closed-in shoes.  I like going barefoot and wearing my flip-flops.  The first thing to come off after work is the shoes and then all the other clothes I have to put on for the job.  Anyway, this foot problem is an ongoing thing and I expect it to be as long as I have to work and wear this “uniform.”

After burning my feet with a vinegar bath twice a day, I had to call that quits after three days.  I was intending to kill the athlete’s foot fungus.  Well it seemed to get a bit better, but it also burned the rest of my feet.  Being the determined person I am, I put up with soaking for thirty minutes each time.  After the third day, even my strong will power figured I was doing more harm than good so I went back to my green alcohol and medicated Gold Bond powder.

 Birdbath fun

Just inserting a few pics here to break up the text.  Believe me you don't want to see my feet. 

 

Then I decided to unwrap my poor patio plants and water them and let them get some air.  That led to cleaning up the whole patio and getting rid of leaves and dirt and all the stuff that drifted in over the winter.  Naturally, I was wearing flip-flops to do this entire job, which took a few hours.  That finished my feet off, not to mention my poor aching back.

 Blooms on our Bradford pear tree

 

Since then I’ve had the worst blister on my big toe.  And of course the athlete’s foot is still there too, but not as bad as it was.  It was finally time to go and see the doctor again.  Good grief!  Twice in three months.  I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.

To make a long story short, I have two new prescriptions to pick up at the pharmacy tomorrow.  Tonight I start my Epsom salt bath for my feet that I have to do twice a day.  “Stop all the home remedies” the doctor said, but the Gold Bond powder is okay and I can continue to use my ointment for the athlete’s foot until I get my prescription. 

This stuff better get rid of these foot problems because I can’t wear my flip-flops until that blister is gone.  I’m crossing my fingers here.

 Raven wanting to play

 

On a cheerier note, I got my car fixed and it looks great. The weather has been fantastic.  I love the 80’s and having the windows open.  And the cats continue to amuse me every day with their antics.

 A beautiful sunrise on the first day of spring

 

I’m still attending the citizens’ police academy and learning so much.  The chief of police came to talk to us tonight and Saturday we get to go to the shooting range and watch a demonstration by the SWAT team.  I can’t wait for that.  More later.

An action filled Saturday night

This is a similar vehicle that I was in for my ride-along

Wow!  Wow!  Wow!  I couldn’t have asked for a better ride-along with the police department.  I was so stoked I’d love to do it again, but nothing could top this one so I’d likely be disappointed.  And after comparing notes in my citizens’ police academy class, I think I had the best one so far.

I’m not going to mention any names here because I really don’t think it’s my place to say too much about this experience and I don’t want to step on any toes without permission.  Let’s just say it was better than any TV show, or the movies.  After all this was happening in real life and right in front of my eyes.

We did a lot in three hours.  That police radio goes off constantly.  I really don’t know how the guys and gals keep it all straight because the reports come in non-stop and they change every few minutes.  I learned so much from the officer I rode with that night.  He was careful to explain all the equipment and let me look at the laptop that’s mounted partially over the passenger seat.  Luckily, I’m small enough to fit in the tiny space that’s left.  Everything is computerized these days and there are little gadgets hanging everywhere. 

Of course I had instructions to stay inside the car for my safety when he made traffic stops, but I was able to bring him up on the tiny monitor mounted above my window and actually listen to him speaking to anyone when we made stops.  He also explained to me how the radar mounted on the dash worked.

Our first stop actually turned into an arrest of a drunken man that we later drove to the jail after he was handcuffed, read his Miranda rights, and frisked down right in front of me.  Wow!  The officer placed him in the backseat behind me.  Of course there’s a Plexiglas window between the seats.  So that started things out on an exciting note.  After that he took calls for two domestic disputes, stopped a lady for speeding, and then to top the night off he took a call for a stolen vehicle.  That was a crazy experience with about five cars in on the chase to apprehend this person.  I’m not going to go into any more details here. 

Once I got back to the station, I was ready to go out again, but the officer had reports to write up and I needed to come home and wind down.  Needless to say, I was still wound up for the next couple of days.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget this.  It was the most exciting Saturday night I’ve ever had in my life.

Very Interesting

This is similar to the 45-pound SWAT vest

This citizens’ police academy I’m attending is getting more interesting every time I go.  Last Thursday we had two speakers, hostage negotiations and then the lieutenant that heads up the SWAT team.  Both of these guys were excellent speakers and often work together on cases.

They brought all the SWAT gear in and asked for volunteers to put on that big pack.  He looked over at me and asked me if I wanted to volunteer.  Good heavens!  I couldn’t even pick the pack up, much less put it on.  But he thinks I’m fearless, I guess, and up for anything because I told him to put me on the most action-packed ride-along he had.  (This is the lieutenant that sets up the ride-along for civilians.)  He finally grabbed one of the older guys in our group and he was the guinea pig for this demonstration. 

This man wasn’t a big man either and had trouble getting the pack on and he sure couldn’t get it off.  He had to sit down so the lieutenant could pull it up over his head.  Of course they had a couple of shields in there too (like you see on the police shows) and also a battering ram.  We were allowed to pick up and inspect all these items.  How they don’t hurt their backs hauling this stuff around is amazing.

You wouldn’t believe the obstacle and training course these guys have to pass every six months to stay on the SWAT team.  It has to be the best men they have for situations like that so you can only imagine the rigors they go through.  We’ll get to see a demonstration of this later on in the academy when they take us to the shooting range.  Not only do they have to wear this heavy pack weighing about 45 pounds, but they also have to carry other gear and their rifle, or pistol, depending on where they are in the course.  They must carry a 180-pound dummy and leave it at a given spot and then hurdle over six-foot walls while shooting and wearing all this equipment.  All this has to be done in nine minutes and they can only miss 4 shots out of about 80 rounds. 

To say you’d have to be in top physical shape is an understatement.  I honestly don’t know how people do this job for a living.  It sounds damn hard to me, not to mention dangerous.  I know I’d never be strong enough to do this, let alone withstand the initial boot camp to start with.

All the guys we’ve met so far are very nice people and they love their jobs.  This academy certainly gives you a different perspective of the police department when you can see things from their point of view and the things the job requires them to do.  They literally have to make split second decisions involving people’s lives.

Until next time, stay safe out there.

Wouldn’t it be nice if…?

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I got to thinking about this Thursday as I scrambled around trying to get everything done before I had to leave for my citizens’ police academy.  Sometimes I wonder if my life will ever slow down.  I can think of several things it would be nice to do if I wasn’t always on the go.

Thursday I was trying to set up the printer replacement I received a month ago.  That still isn’t done, by the way.  I think I need to change the black ink cartridge and try again.  There’s plenty of black ink in the cartridge but it seems to have the same problem as the printer I sent back.  I was trying to catch up on bank statements at the same time because I got tired of waiting for things to load for the new printer.  Naturally, all the menu items for set up are in a different place too.  I don’t have the time to spare for all this stuff right now, even if it does need doing.

I finally gave up on that and the bank statements and got ready to leave for class.  As I ate a quick microwave cup of soup for dinner I texted with my sister to catch up on her news.

Then a sergeant from the police department called me to set up a time for my ride-along.  Yeah.  I can’t wait.  He told me I could do it on a Friday or Saturday evening as those days were the busiest ones.  I had written a note on my request form that I wanted action.  Now I have to work that out with work.  I don’t imagine they’ll let me take notes and I bet it’ll be too dark anyway, so I hope I can muster up a photographic memory to take everything in.

As soon as I walked into class, a fellow citizen in the class asked me to help him with his book.  Good grief!  I have no extra time for that and don’t really want to get involved in his survival book.  It sounds like he’s not computer literate, so he had someone type a handwritten manuscript he wrote ten years ago.  Now he tells me he has that on a flash drive but it needs editing and formatting and pictures inserted that he hasn’t even taken yet. Yikes!  What?  I gave him the address of a website that could help him.  I hope I encouraged him to go that route, although I doubt it.  When this academy first started we had to introduce ourselves and tell the reason we wanted to take the class.  I guess I’ll never know when to keep my mouth shut.  He says he’ll pay me, but I didn’t even go there.  Something tells me I haven’t heard the last about this.

I still have to gather all my stuff for taxes too.  Don’t you ever wish you just had a day to do nothing at all?  That thought has crossed my mind a few times lately.  Why can’t I just sit with my cats in a sunny window and read a book half the day?  

The splendor of nature

Sunrise under a stormy sky

I’m posting some sunsets and other odd things today.  My life has been way too hectic to write up anything intelligent.  I seem to be moving at a pace that’s much faster than I’d like.  Between working, going to my citizen’s police academy and doing all the chores around the house, there’s no time left over.

 A fiery sunset under storm clouds

 

Sometimes I really wonder how all the people I work with are still going strong.  Many of them have been there way longer than me, not to mention are much older too.  Maybe they go home after their shift and collapse on the couch like I do.  Sometimes it’s a real chore just to get my body out of the car once I get into the garage.  LOL  I like my job, but it can wear me out.

 Raven using this box from Costco as a new hiding place

Raven and Koki with a toy mouse. 

 

I’m learning a lot at the academy.  I hope it’ll come in useful when rewriting my mystery series.  

We had our gates redone.  After 12 and 1/2 years they needed it.

Working, classes, and other things

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Sometimes daily life is hard to juggle, but I’m sure most of you know that. 

Police academy classes are ongoing and will be for the next two months, twice a week.  It’s very interesting.  The last two classes were on use of force and all the weapons that are used in crime enforcement.  We watched demonstrations and listened to protocol lectures.  Along with this we had a three-hour class on dispatch.  This was the only civilian that’s spoken to us so far.  They have a battery of tests they must pass also but it isn’t quite the same as for a police officer.  You aren’t expected to leap over six-foot walls and things of that nature.  This dispatch supervisor had moved here from Los Angeles twelve years ago.  He was very passionate about his job.  I actually think he would have talked to us all night, if we let him.  He let us listen to calls that came into the center and took us up to the control room where he explained all the equipment.  This place had more monitors than NASA. 

I always thought being a dispatcher would be an interesting job.  I still think that way, but it would take a lot more fortitude than I have to have to hand out food samples.  You don’t even get a lunch break on this job, but eat between calls when you have a chance.  This center works 24/7 all the time.  There are no holidays off. This would be very intense.  What about bathroom breaks?  I think I can cross this off my bucket list.

I would also like to tell people PLEASE don’t call 911 unless you have a real emergency.  Some of the typical calls they played for us were totally ridiculous and not at all emergencies.  You’d be surprised what people call 911 for. 

I’m enjoying this police academy class immensely.  I turned in my paperwork for a ride-along last Thursday so we’ll see how that goes once they do more background checking to make sure we’re qualified to sit next to an officer, I guess.  We had to sign the form where it stated in big black letters at the bottom that we would control ourselves in any situation and stay in the car while the officers made their stops.  Of course it asked what shift we wanted to ride on etc.  I told them to give me the most action packed thing they had and that I wasn’t easily rattled by things.  More on this later.  I’m hoping I can bring a camera along but something tells me this is probably a no-no.

In other news, we’re working all the time, which seems strange for our status as part time people.  We’re so shorthanded and very busy at work.  That alone will wear you out by the end of the shift because it’s nonstop all day long.

To add a little more to my plate, I backed into hubby’s truck last week and dented both our bumpers and broke my tail light.  This happened right in the driveway!  How stupid of me.  I was ready to kick my own ass for being in a hurry and not thinking.  I guess all the extra money I’m making right now from working so hard will come in handy, although I didn’t have in mind to use it for car repairs.

And so life goes on here in the desert without a minute to spare.  I still have a new printer sitting here I’ve never hooked up over the last two weeks because there’s no extra time.  I sure hope it works since it’s a replacement for a defective one.

And we’ve had days and days of rain.  The Parade of Homes is an annual event held in February every year and it rains every time.  You can set your calendar by it.

Until next time…

Do you have what it takes?

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I’m talking about the passion to do something so badly that you’ll do whatever it takes to get there.  This desire can be about anything in life but, right now with two classes of the citizens’ police academy under my belt; I can see it takes great fortitude to do this job.  It’s very dangerous in the times we live in today and passing all the tests to even realize the passion of finally becoming a police officer isn’t for the average person.  I never realized what all goes into this until our meeting last Thursday.

I think pursuing this profession has to be even harder than running for the presidency of the United States.  Just the physical endurance test that comes first would knock many wannabe’s off the list.  I’m sure this would be similar to boot camp, but it doesn’t last as long.  If you can manage to pass this endurance test, then you get the opportunity to move on to the next test of 100 “canned” questions.  If you’re still standing after all that, then it’s several months of interviews and background checks that cover your entire life.  If you’ve passed all this then it’s onto the police academy for a few months of training, then back to your own town for more police training before you can become a sworn in officer.  All of this takes the better part of a year to complete.

I sure did learn a lot from the Patrol Captain who was one of our speakers during class two.  Wow!  You really, really have to want to help the community and its citizens live in safety to go through all this preparation.  And also be willing to put your life on the line daily in the course of your job.  I have great respect for these people and all they do.  I’m also glad they do such extensive training and background checking so that the ordinary citizen knows they’re being protected in the best way possible.  It should be a comfort to know that there’s also ongoing training all the time to keep the officers up-to-date on all the latest technology and procedures.

I’m learning a lot about our police department here and this class has barely gotten underway.  We’ll even get to do a ride-along.  Wow!  Now that will be very interesting to see everything in action, although we’re told we have to stay in the vehicle all the time for our safety.

Other than work and class, the weather is warming up here.  Thank goodness!  It’s so nice to see 70 degrees and sunny skies.  Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Class one of the Police Academy class was yesterday

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I had Tuesday off, thank goodness.  There’s life beyond handing out food samples.  I wanted to get something accomplished before the class. 

So I fixed the chain on a roller shade that broke about two weeks ago.  I haven’t had time to get to it.  And I got my litter boxes changed.  I’m sure my cats are happy about that.  Then I met up with some friends who will be going out of town for about two months so it was nice to see them before they left.  After that it was a trip to the grocery store and then it was time for class.  Naturally my replacement printer is still setting here ready to be hooked up and I never got the laundry done either.

This first class was held at the police station, which is about eight and a half miles from my house.  They have a basement classroom.  The police chief and the assistant police chief were the speakers tonight.  Basically it was a meet and greet and they went over everything that will covered in the next nineteen classes.  About twenty four people showed up, most of them retired folks.  They did have refreshments for us in the back of the room and each of us got a name badge and a big binder to put handouts in.

We all had to go around the room and introduce ourselves and where we were from, etc.  Of course being the talker I am I told them I made people smile everyday by handing out samples at Costco.  That was probably a big mistake.  We’ll see.  A couple of people told me afterwards they’d come and see me there.  That’s really all I need is more customers wanting a free sample but the assistant chief was talking about how important it is to have a good attitude and make people smile.  I serve orange juice tomorrow so we’ll see if anyone from the class shows up for that.

I think this will be a very informative class.  They encouraged us to ask all the questions we wanted and people did just that.  No one seemed very shy.  Most of the people in the classroom had moved from California.  There was a couple from Wisconsin and someone from Maryland.  Only a couple of the people were actually born in Utah.  There are three husband and wife teams taking the class and some people who are volunteers at the police department.

Overall it was interesting, but hard to hear people in the back of the room when they were asking a question.  People really need to speak louder in a case like that, but they don’t.  But I think most of us got the point as the police chief answered questions.  The two hours flew by.

Our next class is Thursday with police speakers from the administrative division and the patrol division of the police department.  This one is held up at the old airport, which I discovered last week when I was out trying to track down all these locations ahead of time.

Stay tuned.