Friday, August 22, 2008

Flash Bang


In this blog I want to briefly touch on a few things that stood out for me this week. Firstly was PT at Red Rocks.

Anyone who knows Red Rocks will be familiar with the lay out, but basically at the top of the auditorium is a staging area where a number of concession stands are set up. We ordered into formation and told to march to this area. We were almost there when we told to stop and wait while Deputy Johnson went on ahead to prepare our activities for the morning.

So here we are in a two line formation, standing at attention, when a family walks by. As the father passed us he said, and I quote; "this must be the doughnut line." The few of us who were privilliaged enough to hear it could not help but laugh, his timing was perfect. This was just another example of how some members of community view us as law enforcement officers, too much Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons if you ask me!

We also had our second test this week. One hundred questions, seventy five right to pass. I found this test a little harder than the first one. My weakness I believe was the Bill of Rights questions. I know this information but I sometimes get the amendments confused with each other. I didn't do horribly in the exam but I know I could have improved; we have another eight tests before our final POST exam, so my ship hasn't sank yet. For the record I got 79%, test one I got 87%, congrats to our representative from Vail PD with a nice 95%.

This afternoon we had two members from the Jeffco SWAT team give us a lecture on their procedures and equipment. This was an awesome class! Let me say that these two guys were built like brick outhouses! Not the kind of guys you want to meet in a dark alley way.

They had a lot of interesting stories to tell from their experience, and were more than happy to share them with us. The last hour of the day they took us out and showed us some there equipment, talk about a kid in a candy shop, this was the highlight of the week for me.

They showed us there guns, ballistics shields, tactical vests, command bus. We got to handle them all (everything was safe) and get an idea of what these guys do. Their tactical vest for example, weighs in at about thirty pounds empty! Can you imagine wearing that for four to six hours at a time! Id lose weight if I just wore it in class all day.

The best thing by far, however, was the flash sound diversionary device, or 'flash bang.' If don’t know what a flash bang is I'll tell you. Basically it is a non-lethal grenade, that when detonated produces a deafening bang, and a blinding light. The idea is to temporally disable a subject by taking away vision and hearing, which buys an officer a few extra seconds to take control of hostile situation. Well, we got to experience it first hand. I was excited. I've heard a lot about flash bangs and have always wanted to be on the receiving end of one just for the experience. Let me tell you, if you had fight in you before this thing goes off, you will soon lose it. We were outside in broad daylight when we did this and it was still disorienting! I can only imagine what it would be like inside a building! Awesome, that’s one more thing scratched off my bucket list.

P.S Riles wants to say hi to his brother, an avid reader from what I understand. "Hi!"

Monday, August 18, 2008

Razor?


Formal inspection was scheduled 8/13 at 0800 hrs, this meant that the night before I was scrambling to get my uniforms in tip top shape. I ironed my pants, taking due care to get the creases just right. My shirts I pressed, my boots got another couple of layers of parade gloss, I was ready; at least I thought I was ready.

We stood in formation, four squads lining up symmetrically to each other. Sgt. Wygant walked in front of each recruit, checking for discrepancies in appearance. I thought I was gold. Turns out, not only did I not have my ID badge on me, and displayed in the right place, but I also forgot to shave! Thankfully Deputy Johnson wasn’t at this inspection or push ups and memos would have been in my future. Now I have a sticky note on my mirror with the word SHAVE written on it.

Another you need to know about inspections, is that it is not just our appearance that is under scrutiny but also our knowledge. We can be asked about literally anything. In all fairness the inspecting officer does try to keep it within what we have already been taught.

As you can imagine this can make for a stressful inspection, not to mention a very interesting inspection, as was the case for me.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Skid Marks

Last week we had a class on accident investigation. This was our first out of the classroom, hands on lecture. We of course had some time in the classroom, learning how to preserve the scene, the steps we go through if we are the first on scene, and also how to judge the speed a vehicle was going by looking at the skid marks on the road and other evidence that is left behind at the scene of a crash.

We had three instructors from the Westminster Police Department teach us, all of them had extensive knowledge on the subject, as well as a lot of experience in the field. We discussed real life accidents, looking at pictures from the scenes, and had explained to us the chain of events that caused the accident based on our instructor's personal investigation.

When we got out of the classroom, our first project was to examine skid marks, this was really cool. One of the instructors got into a patrol car at a safe location, and performed some high speed braking for us. We would then examine the skid marks, judge what mark was left by the rear tires, and what were left by the front tires. We would measure the length of the mark and calculate the speed of the vehicle at time of braking.

The next exercise that was set up was a mock accident. Two vehicles were set up on a public sidewalk, there were skid marks in the road, and we had witnesses to question. Apart from actually having an accident, this was as close to the real thing as they could make.

We were set up into groups, assigned responsibilities and sent on our way. My job, along with my partner Eric, was to take measurements from the accident, judge the point of impact, and relay our info back to the team so we could get a full picture of what happened. Once we had taken all the information, we then went back to the class room to write an accident report form, and decide who was at fault in the accident, and what charge we were going to cite them with.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Fallen Officers

First thing this morning we had inspection. Let me tell you, even at eight in the morning, especially when your uniforms are black, it is very hot. This can make standing to attention very difficult.

Inspection is fun however. At least I think so, that could just of course be because Deputy Johnson is going easy on us right now. Now please don’t get me wrong. I do work hard to get my uniform looking good. For the past three weeks I have been spit shinning my boots! I must have at least twenty to thirty layers of Kiwi parade gloss on there, with still more to go. My pants are pressed neatly, and my shirt ironed.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done. Anyone that gets into the academy, and thinks it’s a nine to five job, had better think again. There is studying and homework you have to do on your own time, uniforms need to be ready for the next day, you get one set of PT gear, and that has to be washed every time you use it, as it must be with you at all times.

That aside, what I really wanted to briefly talk about was our inspection this morning. Our class sergeant last week assigned us, under orders, a name of a Peace Officer who at some point in Colorado's history had been killed in the line of duty.

During inspection we had a moments silence in remembrance of these brave officers. With our heads bowed, standing at-ease, we then took turns starting with highest rank, and called the name, department and year the officer was killed.

Now, when your turn comes, you immediately stand to attention and in a loud clear voice and sound off, return to the original position and pay respects as you hear the name of other fallen officers.

The importance of this to me, is not just so we don’t forget the sacrifices made for us, although this is the main reason, but also a reminder to us all of the challenges we will face in our careers. To always be mind full that these dangers exist, and that we must prepare ourselves physically and mentally so that one day we will retire instead of having the next Academy class reading our names.