A Day in the Life of an Academy Recruit: Traci: I still have so much to learn…

Week 12, Day 3

Well, this week has been extremely busy. We have been doing A LOT of hands-on practical exercises, which is a great way to learn. These exercises actually started last Friday (during that lovely blizzard), when we were taught how to conduct vehicle searches. We spent the morning doing the classroom portion and in the afternoon we moved over to the patrol garage to do the actual work. We took turns hiding items in a car (like fake drugs and weapons), then we worked in pairs to find those items. It’s amazing how many places there are in a vehicle to hide items. I have done searches before, but I still learned a lot from this exercise.

So starting this week, we moved into crime scene exercises. We worked on how to properly secure a crime scene, how preserve evidence and sketch the crime scene. We also learned how to take fingerprints and lift fingerprints from various items, so they could be submitted for evidence. The staff from the crime lab came in to teach these classes and they did such a great job, I think every one of my classmates had fun. These are just more skills for us to put into our tool boxes for a later time.

We also had a report writing exercise that was due this week. We are learning how to fill out the forms that Jefferson County Sheriff Department uses with a crime or incident is reported. We had to interview one of our classmates and then fill out all the appropriate forms and type up a report. We turned them into one of our instructors for grading (go easy on us Capt. Woodin). I think most of us are anxious to see what kind of feedback we will get about the reports.

Today, we got to go back out to the firing range. We did several qualifying rounds, which are going to be used towards our final grade. It’s exciting to see how well everyone is shooting and how much we are all improving, but a little unnerving with all the drills. We have to shoot a certain amount of shoots, at a specific part of the target and it’s all timed. NO PRESSURE!!! We also do drills where we are required to run (uphill) and then we are expected to put our shoots on target, with accuracy. It is harder then it sounds.

After the firing range we switched with the other group and moved onto arrest control. Now this was a true hands-on class. We were taught how to fall, yes…fall. We are taught how to fall properly so we don’t hurt ourselves. (Just a little side note, I learned these techniques years ago when I went through some martial arts training. Well, I still fell in my garage and broke my wrist…I guess it wasn’t in my muscle memory) okay, back to training. Some of these techniques we learned today were about how to bounce back if we ever find ourselves lying on the ground. My partner for this was one of my male classmates, who is over 6 feet tall and just under 200 lbs. I wanted to see if I could hold my own in these techniques and be able to get out of these situations against a bigger opponent. Well, I did hold my own…but not without working hard to get there. I was physically exhausted at the end of this class. It really does take a lot out of you.

So that’s basically a recap of this week and a little more. We are really flying through this training and sometimes it’s hard to wrap my brain around it. I get so focused on this academy in all aspects, that I forget what it’s like to interact with other people outside this little world. I forget that there are other people out there, that need my attention or that our thinking about me and my welfare. This academy will do that to you. I get so focused and side tracked, that it seems like little things to me…but very LARGE things to other people.

Where am I going with this…well I have a cute story about a young lady that has taken time out of her life to care about us. Deputy Johnson’s daughter (I won’t mention her name…I don’t want to embarrass her), she has claimed this academy class as her own. She sends messages through her dad…to let us know she is thinking of us and she says, “HI.” She adopted us from day one and according to Deputy Johnson asks about how we are and what we are doing. The other day we had another written test. While we were all focused on this test…Deputy Johnson told us he had a present for each and every one of us, from our biggest fan. She had made us all surfboards. Not just any surfboard. They were cut from pieces of paper and they were all individually colored. My surfboard is purple with hearts on it. Some had sayings on them, some had designs…but they were all very unique.

So we as a class wrote her a note to tell her how much we appreciated the surfboards and that we really appreciated the thought that went into it. I was able to print a couple of pictures of our academy class and we gave our gift to Deputy Johnson to give to his daughter. So just for a moment, we were distracted from this rigorous schedule and able to appreciate just what we (as individuals and as a team) actually mean to someone. It was a nice gesture and a much needed break. I have included in my pictures this week, a picture of some of the surfboards that were given to us.