Being who I Want to Be

For this entry I want to share some of my feelings about who I want to be during my career as a law enforcement officer in the state of Colorado. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend this academy. I know we are receiving more training than is actually required by the state. I want to be sure not to take this or future training for granted.

I want to be teachable in the academy and throughout my career. There are many experienced individuals employed by Jefferson County and its cities, and I can already see that they want me to be sucessful. For example, I have less experience with firearms than almost everyone else in my class, but my fellow recruits constantly ask me how I am doing with shooting and the instructors constantly keep an eye on me to make sure I improve. With learning I must be open to feedback and constructive criticism. One day I hope to be in a position where I can share my knowledge with others.

As a deputy sheriff, I also want to set a good example for those around me including fellow deputies and officers, and citizens of this county. I will be honest in my dealings with them and hold myself to the highest standards. Hopefully I can encourage those around me to do the same, which will help maintain a great place to work and live for everyone.

I pledge to be reliable in my career. I want to be there for others no matter the situation or time of day. Others will know they can count on me for help. I will keep my word and follow through on my commitments. I know this will require constant attention and work but will be worth it. The biggest thing for me to remember is to do the right thing all of the time and I will be the deputy and I intend to be.

Physical Improvement

An important part of the academy is physical training (PT), which we do 2-3 times per week. It has gradually increased in difficulty. Last Monday we ran the longest distance yet, which tested our endurance. This past Friday we had the wonderful experience of working out at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Luckily I was somewhat prepared for this from reading about it on previous academy blogs. There are lots and lots of stairs that were used for running, jumping, and push-ups. Then there are planters, which are made from brick walls several feet high. And yes, we did have to go over the top of them. For me, this work-out was challenging and helped me feel new parts of my body. The best part about it is that it will get even tougher in the future. Yes, we will be back. We are always reminded that the physical training is also mental training. Even if our bodies want to quit, our minds have the power to push us and keep us going.

The calm before the storm

Ready to march in

We didn't have to go over this red rock, yet

I think we all enjoy the physical training because it allows us to get outside and move around. Also, I think we all feel better after we get the blood flowing for awhile. I never thought I would say this, but I am sad that we are not doing any PT tomorrow morning because we have extra classroom training to do. PT gives us an opportunity to encourage and support one another. It also allows us to bond and practice teamwork. Another thing I am trying to do is eat and sleep better as I know this will help improve my health. When we get out on duty, we must be ready for a call at anytime, and we must be able to outlast our opposition in order to win.

Skills Training

The first part of this week has been great as we have gotten to get out of our chairs in the classroom more. On Tuesday and Thursday we received firearms training. Some of it included lectures, but lots of it allowed us to get out our guns and learn how to properly draw, re-load, and fix them when they malfunction. The most fun part was that we got to have competitions to see who could perform the fastest with their guns.

Lined up and ready to draw

Two of the best going one on one

Two of the recruits, Tyler and Mark, from Wheat Ridge did awesome in the competitions. Their department will get some very skilled officers soon. The importance of firearm safety has been driven in to us from the beginning of this training and we have learned many rules that apply whenever handling a gun. I am one of a few who has little or no experience with guns. Almost all of us have no law enforcement experience, but many have grown up shooting. Don't worry if you come to the academy without experience with guns though because there are many knowledgeable instructors here to help. I had to rely on them a lot and appreciate the feedback and help they gave to me.

We received training in CPR and First Aid on Wednesday. We were able to practice CPR on dummies of both adults and babies. We learned how to use AED devices as well.

Proper form is necessary

Teamwork is helpful with two rescuers

For the First Aid portion of the class, we got to go outside and participate in some real life scenarios that were given to us by the instructors. We learned that, as law enforcement officers, we will often be first on a scene that requires immediate medical attention such as a car accident. We will have to assess each situation and prioritize the treatment we begin if there is more than one person injured. During this time, we need to constantly be aware of safety at the scene and manage any distractions. We also learned how to treat different injuries on our classmates.

Recruit Todd got a pen in his eye

Head injury and arm injury

We had an officer from the area that was involved in a shoot-out come in and speak to us and answer questions. He had been out of his academy for less than a year when it happened. He is truly a hero and I want to thank him for talking to us about it. What I ultimately take away from these classes is that we must always be prepared to save lives.....of members of society, fellow officers, and ourselves.

Starting to look like cops

Last week the day we have long awaited finally arrived. We got to take off our coats and ties, and become superheroes much like Superman.....well not entirely. We were able to wear our uniforms. Because there are eight agencies represented in this academy, there was a variety of shirt colors and patches, which was cool to see. In fact, just today a Sergeant that taught one of our classes referred to Jeffco deputies as green shirts.

Getting used to wearing our uniforms in class

Everyone at full attention in uniform during class

Along with receiving the privilege of wearing our uniforms comes the responsibility of caring for our uniforms and making sure they look good on us. We have talked a lot about command presence, which basically means that our presence including the way we look will have a huge effect on how society perceives us. Sgt. B brought up the example that if a cop looks sloppy, people are going to think that he or she does a sloppy job. Because of this, it is very likely that this cop will not be relied upon by the public or respected. We were told how to clean and iron our uniforms and keep them looking sharp so that we will have command presence right out of the gate. With this, we had our first uniform inspection and will continue to do it periodically.

After our uniform inspection, we could finally breathe sighs of relief

We completed another exciting week of training that included a class about using effective verbal techniques while enforcing laws. The awesome instructor who took time away from her job with the Colorado State Patrol taught us that our goal is to gain voluntary compliance from people we will come in contact with and she showed us how to do this. We also had a cool class about arrest control and the different techniques and levels of force to use during an arrest. I think we all look forward to getting cuffs on our classmates once we get into the hands-on training of this. We have also received some firearms classroom training and are itching to get out on the range. We continue to build foundations in the classroom and will soon develop our skills to add to them. Together these will prepare us for the real world.

Tested.....physically and mentally

We had our first set of tests last Friday. The first was physical and tested us on a mile and a half run, as well as the number of push-ups and sit-ups we could do in a minute. I recommend to anyone who wants to attend this academy or another one to begin a physical training program now so your body will be prepared for this. It is a very important part of being a law enforcement officer because we never know what we will be called to do and must be able to endure physically longer than any criminals out there. One thing I have learned is to do everything as a team from start to finish. For example, those of us who finished our run first went back and ran beside those still finishing their run. This provides a tremendous amount of support and unity. I also want to clarify that I am not the Ryan referred to in Alan's blog that was the winner of the physical fitness test. I wish I could say I was, but I still have plenty of work to do. Deputy Joselyn has continually told us that physical fitness is mental as well. He said that we need to focus our minds on a different place while enduring physical fitness challenges in order to perform them well and keep going. To demonstrate this, we did several push-up-like exercises followed by some sprints up a hill, which really got our hearts pumping after we already did the test. I appreciate that we are being pushed and will appreciate it even more in the critical moments that will come in the line of duty.

After we got our hearts racing, we had to get our minds racing on the written test. It covered the vast amounts of information that has been covered over the first three weeks of the academy. We were able to find out our scores right away and did well as a class. We will take tests periodically throughout the academy to ensure that we are learning all of the information to become certified as law enforcement officers. We are given good notes and access to text books and other resources to help us. I must say that I find this much more interesting and of course applicable than anything I ever studied in college.

At the end of last week, the fact that our academy class needed more discipline was brought to our attention. As a class we had become a little too relaxed and needed to be brought back to reality. There is no room for complacency in this career. I know we all appreciated finding this out and I want to thank both the recruits and superiors who took charge and helped get us back on the right path. I'm relatively positive that we will not let this slide again. I will get some pictures up very soon because I know they are helpful.

Working out.....physically and mentally

Monday was the beginning of week #3, which is amazing. The time has gone by really fast and I have been pumped full of a large quantity of new information in a small quantity of time. With a limited amount of time for the academy, there is lots of stuff to pack into each day. I just found out that Jeffco provides us with more training and learning hours than the Colorado POST board actually requires because they feel that it will greatly benefit us. I really appreciate the time that is put into this by those in charge and the instructors. There is reading that is required and some that is suggested to do outside of class. The books we need can be checked out or have been given to us. This part of the academy reminds me a lot of college so I am really trying to get into a study routine, which will hopefully be better than the one I had during college.

Preparing for PT

PT has really picked up as of like the third time doing it. It began pretty slow but is quickly getting into full force. Last week we got to do some pull-ups, which I am pretty sure I have not done since I had to for my physical fitness merit badge in boy scouts. These were done on some monkey bars at a park nearby but luckily is was early enough that we didn't have to share with any kids. We also did some sprints and lunges on a a slight incline. On Friday we ran up some stairs and a hill, and as always did some push-ups and crunches which will likely be staples for our PT. Today, we all quickly shook off the weekend by doing different sprinting exercises. In one, we did a 4x400 relay, but with no baton. My team ran it in 1 minute and 1 second, which made me feel good but the top team did it a little faster.....good job guys! I should point out that there is a really nice work-out room on site that includes free weights, weight machines, and some cardio machines among other things. Several of the recruits have taken advantage of this in their free time, which is awesome. I plan to join them soon.

On a break between classes

Classroom time

Group work in class

Our classes have been really great. The recent ones have included investigations, search and seizure, and use of force. There are so many critical aspects of our job, and we will have to make important decisions in minimal time. Getting down the knowledge and training in this academy will prepare us to make these quick decisions. I know we will gain the confidence to perform to the best of our abilities before we set foot out in the field.

Full Steam Ahead

We are now in the second week of the academy and are getting into a routine. Monday was our first day of physical training (PT) so we got right to it first thing in the morning. Our class was joined by the Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and the two deputies in charge of the academy plus the deputy who directs the PT so we had lots of support. This impressed me because I did not expect these men of higher rank to run with us recruits, yet there they were with us on the same level. We started with some exercises that reminded me of high school football practice and then ran 1.5 miles around the Sheriff complex. We stopped a couple of times during our run to do push-ups in a parking lot and crunches on a sidewalk. Getting a healthy dose of road rash on my hands definitely made me feel tougher!

This was the first time we had to come with our PT and regular clothes, and all of the stuff we need for classes, lunch, etc. Well, I thought I forgot my dress shoes and knew it would be unacceptable to wear my black and silver Nike's with my dress pants in class. So luckily I had enough time to run and get another pair of shoes to avoid that embarrassment. I later discovered that I actually had placed my shoes on top of some lockers, which made me feel better because I had in fact prepared properly. The moral of this story is to check and double check that you have all of your stuff. This is a serious job and unless you have all of your tools ready to use, you will fail. I will not make this mistake again.

I think we are all getting settled in and getting to know one another much better. We are continuing more classes this week, which is all we will be doing for a little while along with PT. The classes have all been really good and have taught us characteristics such as leadership and ethics that will not only be important for now, but for the duration of our careers. I am very impressed by the knowledge and experience of our instructors. Many of them have been with Jeffco for 20 or 30 years, which tells me that working in this county is great. We are able to take breaks every hour, which is nice plus we get a lunch break. There is a cafeteria on site, which serves food that is much healthier and better tasting than what I could put together. I think most, if not all of us are eating healthy meals and snacks, which will help our bodies endure the training and work we do. I know I am eating better and that nutrition is important for everyone. One thing that stuck out to me so far is the importance of having a good attitude. In thinking about this, a positive attitude will help us as law enforcement officers to be more proactive in serving our communities and to enjoy the work we do day in and day out, which is of course why we chose this job.

Ryan