Week fourteen- One white sock, one black

This week was crazy busy.  We had Arrest Control written test, Arrest Control practical test, ASP and Baton test, and our regular test on Friday.  That is a lot of testing.  To make things more interesting our schedule on Wednesday and Thursday was 4pm-1am.  I am always open to trying different things.  Mixing things up every now and then is good for all of us.  It also gives all of us an idea of who functions better in the mornings or at nights.  To make the change even more of a change...these were the only two nights it snowed.  Why not?  Go big or go home.

We all tested and passed our Arrest Controls tests Wednesday and Thursday.  Every test passed is a huge relief.  Arrest Control testing was surprising because as much as we all stressed out about it, more of it was second nature than we thought.  As most of the things we learn in the academy, arrest control is a fundamental.  Practice is imperative.  For any of you who have played a sport, imagine playing a game after not having played for months.  You would be rusty, not confident, and look like a fool.  Firearms, arrest control, ground fighting, etc... is no different. 

While half of us were testing out on arrest control for the first half of the evening, the others were at a different site learning and practicing building searches.  I keep saying to myself, "Can it get any better?" and it does.  The best part of building searches was working with the K9.  I am absolutely fascinated with dogs.  Everyone thinks puppies are cute, but liking dogs more than people is a different ballgame.  Working as a team is the only way to search buildings whether there are two of you, four of you, or four of you and the K9.  Communication was apparent and strong in some groups, and lacking in others, but figuring out how to get on the same page was part of the exercise. 

We finished at 1am on Thursday which means the earliest any of us got home and in bed was 2am.  We had formation at 830am the next morning which means we were all up by 630am Friday morning.  That is not much sleep-but that is the nature of the business.  We were all exhausted and the day became "one of those days" where you might show up with one white sock on and one black.  Or where you put your nametag on upside down and no one notices because we are all zombies. 

Arrest control, as we learned was not over.  It had just begun.  Which is one of those "this is becoming real" moments.  Week 14 is over already?  Every week after the halfway point in week 10 has flown by.  We are out of the classroom a lot more and it is all coming together more and more every day.  The one thing I have noticed over the past 14 weeks is...people are awful drivers!

Either this has become quite the phenomena in Jefferson County, or the academy has changed me. 

Week 15 here we come.

Week thirteen-Guest Blog- Mike, Lakewood PD

My name is Mike and I am a Lakewood Police Recruit.  I am a part of the joint inaugural 2012 Lakewood Police Department /Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department Police Academy.  I am 42 years old, married, and have two elementary age children.  I was asked to write something from this perspective.

My wife and kids have been extremely supportive and understanding as Academy life can be very consuming.   I find it both challenging and rewarding.  I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to enter into such an amazing profession and because my family sees this as “meant to be” and something I want, they are behind me completely.  Being connected and close as a family going into this makes us a strong team.

The academy is more intense than a 40 hour job.  There are no days off; it is Monday through Sunday.  My day starts at 5am and I try to cut it off at midnight.  Time with family M-Th is limited but we make the most of the time we do have.  From lunch made by my wife with sometimes hidden “surprises” from the kids, to dinner each night as a family, we are still a part of each other’s days.  And, the creation of “Friday Family Fun Night” where it is special family time, no work, 100% attention has been exciting for the family.

Halloween is this week.  I have a son and a daughter who are excited about canvassing our neighborhood for candy.  My six year old daughter decided to be a witch this year, a good witch, which broke her three year stint of being a princess.  My eight year old son has always been a Star Wars character, because the good guys always save the day.  However, this year he decided he wanted to be a police officer—a SWAT Officer.  I asked him why, and he said he wanted to save the good people from the bad people.

We just finished week 14 out of 20, and we are that much closer to protecting the good people from the bad people.  I feel fortunate to be a part of such a good group.  Each week we learn something new in the classroom or out in the field.  Last week we searched buildings.  There is an art to searching a building.  It involves teamwork, good communication, and proper positioning amongst your partners—trust.

We also had our Arrest Control written and practical exams.  It is amazing how much you can learn in such a short period of time.  Our instructors were outstanding and we worked hard together to fine tune all the various techniques.  We continue to add tools to our tool belt.

And really, that sums up life at the academy:  team work, good communication and trust.  We push each other each day, whether it is in the classroom, during PT, or out in the field (practicals).  I chose this career path because I was looking forward to being a part of a group of people who embodied character, integrity, and honor.  I have found that group of people and all of us are very dedicated to becoming a public servant. 

Week eleven and twelve-Rising Sun

I thought I would mix things up and put weeks 11 and 12 together.  These past two weeks have been filled with lots of classroom and lecture material as well as a lot of arrest control review for our upcoming test.  We have learned the many ways to handcuff compliant and non-compliant people as well as a TON of takedown moves, escape moves, etc...  It is crazy to see how much we have grown from day one to now.  I remember the first week of arrest control thinking, "I'll never remember this move and where to grab on the hand and how to twist and where to cuff."  Now it is muscle memory and has come full circle from a blur to very clear.

We are starting Week 13!  We have been so busy that we have not had much time for all of this to sink in.  If and when we do have time to do anything outside of the academy it is used to catch up on rest, family time, and any semblance of a social life. 

Every day I wake up I am proud to be a part of this academy and class.

Speaking of waking up, let me run you through one of my days since I have gotten into quite a routine Monday through Friday.

6:01 my alarm goes off.  My snooze is for 9 minutes which is weird, but I push snooze one time.

6:10 rise and almost shine.

6:30 out the door.  Not quite shining yet.

7:00 arrive at academy.

7-7:20 get in uniform

7:30 meet outside for our lint rolling party

7:45 ready for inspection

8:00 enter the classroom

8-noon lecture with regular breaks. By now we can predict what snack everyone eats and when
noon-1pm lunch My lunches have even become routine.  I eat the same thing every day.  I think most of us are on autopilot and pack the same thing the night before because it takes less time to think about what to make or pack.

1-5pm lecture Unless we have physical training days, then class is out at 4pm and we train until 5pm.

Physical training is 3 days a week.  Of those three days we rotate through CrossFit, jujitsu, and running/cardio.  If you are not familiar with CrossFit, try one workout and you'll be hooked.  I wish we had more time to learn more jujitsu but we only have so many hours in our days. Running, I am not one of those people who volunteers to go on a run....ever.   

Once I get home I get all of my stuff together for the next day.  I get my lunch packed before I "shut down", lay out whichever uniform is to be worn the next day, double check my bag, then eat dinner, aka...cereal.   

This has become my life for the past 12 weeks.  It will be very different after graduation when we are in the real world, but the hardest part is that we won't be working with each other.  For 20 weeks we will have been together. 

We started in the scorching heat of the summer and have watched the seasons change.  The sun piercing through us as it rose in mornings at 730 a.m. while standing in formation has turned into seeing our breath in the cold crisp and dark mornings.  A piece of advice to anyone in the next academy....line up in formation facing away from the rising sun.