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.

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.

Do you have what it takes?

Clip art

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!