OC Spray

Time is moving fast now. We have passed the half way point, ten weeks to go! Now half way, that’s got to be celebrated, and how better to that, than with a little OC spray (pepper spray)!

Friday was an excellent day. We started out with PT, an hour and a half of PT! It was a great work out. Sprinting up and down hills, pushups, lunges they threw it all at us. We really get to see a lot of Golden on our runs and Deputies Johnson and Hoffmann really try and mix it up for us so boredom doesn't set in. They seem pleased with our performance and attitude during PT.

We then had a two hour lecture on alternatives to deadly force. Here we talked about tools like OC spray, taser and other less lethal weapons that we have available to us as Law Enforcement. Quite appropriate really as after lunch we were going to feel the effects of OC personally.

Now I do have to disclaim that being sprayed with OC was not compulsory. And if you believe that, neither is getting shot with the Taser! We assembled in the HQ car wash and given our objectives.

Basically this is what we had to do; get sprayed, move to "Bob" a martial arts dummy and strike him for thirty seconds while giving him verbal direction. During this time I could feel my eyes starting to burn and adrenaline kick up.

Stage two; move around the corner of the car wash and arrest a suspect at gun point. Of course we used training weapons and the suspect was one of my class mates. By this stage my eyes were really burning and I could feel my lungs fighting for oxygen, the adrenaline was still strong so I wasn't feeling the full of effects of the OC just yet!

Stage three; Deputy Hoffmann handed me a simunitions weapon and the stage was set for a shoot/don’t shoot scenario. Another one of my class mates played the suspect and I had to decide whether I needed to shoot him or not. As I peered through my burning eyes I saw the suspect standing about eight feet in front of me with a pistol in his hand pointed at the ground. I shot him, much to the dismay of Deputy Johnson, I was supposed to give him a verbal command first and then shoot if necessary. I think I just got a little too excited!

The whole drill lasted only a few minutes, as the adrenaline faded away the pain really set in. I have never felt anything like this; my face was burning like a hot iron was pressed up against. Splashing cold water on my face afforded me some relief but this was short lived.

I could feel myself starting to hyper ventilate as my breathing became shallower and shallower. My partner Davis kept reminding me to take deep breaths which helped calm me down and stop me from going into a panic state. My eyes felt like they were stapled shut, and to pry them open just reminded me of how much they burned.

It took about thirty minutes for the effects to subside somewhat so that I could operate on a functional level, my face and left arm however were still burning right up until about 2300hours that night!

I never imagined I could burn that bad without actually being on fire, but I did learn two very important things from this exercise; one, OC is a great weapon and an excellent tool when used appropriately; and two, that no matter what happens to me or what pain I feel, I can still do what I need to and fight on.

Rock Dance

Skills are in full swing as of today! We have been divided into two teams; I have been placed on B team. My morning starts with four hours of Arrest Control; this will actually be our second four hour session.

Our first session we concentrated on personal weapons, which are basically strikes using various parts of our body. A lot of bag work was involved, which as you can imagine works up a good sweat. I love this class, I did Martial Arts for many years and have been looking to get back into it, and difference now is that they are paying me to do it! What club can beat that?

We also train in what is known as the Rock Dance; basically this is a balance exercise, two recruits square off on the mats, engage, and attempt to throw the other down. There is a twist to this though; every time you get thrown down you owe ten push ups to the class. If neither recruit in the Rock Dance throws the other down you both owe twenty push ups! Incentive is everything.

After lunch it is down to the range, they are going to pay me to shoot their ammunition! What could be better than that? We have had twenty four hours of class room instruction in firearms already, sixteen of which were spent practicing drawing weapons from our holsters, and tactical and combat reloads.

Our instructors really do a great job, we all had a lot of fun and personally I feel really good about going to the range and doing this with loaded weapons.

We had some timed drills in the class room, we started small, with only two seconds to draw our weapons, get on target and pull the trigger. Every time we beat the timer the seconds would get slashed. We are talking about some serious gun handling here, the last time we got down to was 1.2 seconds, only a handful of us could complete all the above steps in the time, myself included, not that I am one to brag of course. We have some recruits in this class that are real fast with their weapons, I am looking forward to training with them, I think we have a lot to offer each other and we work well together as a team.

Black Wednesday

Week seven didn't get off to a great start. The Labor Day weekend was over (yes they gave us the three day weekend) and it was back to work. Tuesday went by swimmingly, no hiccups, just another great day of academics.

Wednesday however proved to be a bit more of a nightmare. Test three was our first scheduled appointment that day. Tests are always stressful; anyone who has been to school can tell you that. This exam consisted of a number of subjects from sexual assault crimes to crimes against people. There were 100 questions, most multiple choice, some fill in the blanks. We have eight tests to complete during the course of the academy, not including the final POST exam and a score of 75% or more is needed to pass.

After the exam it was inspection time. We were dressed out in our Class A uniforms (long sleeved shirt with tie) and assembled in formation outside of the Sheriffs Office HQ. A sergeant from the Westminster PD was scheduled as our inspecting officer. Here is where our first mess up came. We were given the order to dress-right-dress, which basically means we move apart about and arms length from each other so the inspecting officer can have room to move in and around us. Who could mess that up right? Well it seems about half of us did. It was very embarrassing, and Deputy Johnson was not happy with us.

The sergeant from Westminster was one sharp guy. He picked up on all our faults, no matter how personal they may have been, he did not hold anything back. The Westminster recruits got the worst of it though; he had no mercy for them. He made one of them run in and pluck his nose hairs! Others had to go in and call friends to find the answers to questions they didn’t know!

Inspection lasted about an hour, after which we were scheduled for PT, this helped relieve some of the stress from the morning which was good, but it was short lived. After lunch Deputy Johnson was going over some of the issues from the inspection when he caught a few people not paying attention to him. This is not good, especially after we had already pissed him off! Thirty five pushups later and the point was driven home.

The week did however end on a good note. Thursday we started firearms training; this was eight hours of class room with sixteen more to come before we hit the range, a very welcome break from some of the more intensive studies. We got to put our duty belts together and get them prepared for the techniques we will be learning over the next few weeks.

Friday Deputy Johnson was very happy with our performance at Red Rocks that morning. It was a very tough workout and he was happy to see not one of us quit, and was proud at how we were pulling together as a team. The academy coordinators are good like that. Especially Deputy Johnson, he will kick your rear end in when you need and then pat you on the back when you deserve it. It all balances itself out.

Sergeant Scott

Finally we are in uniforms! Week six we finally get there. As much as I love my black training uniforms, or class C’s as they are known, they are a pain to keep lint free. Not to mention we all look better in our departmental uniforms.

Week six was my turn to be class Sergeant. I have to say I really enjoyed it. My first assignment was to lead our group in PT ad Red Rocks. This can be quite intimidating as the public is watching you, and videoing you, the pressure is definitely on.

I made a couple of mistakes when naming a couple of exercises’; I was quite fast to correct myself so I don’t think anyone except my fellow recruits noticed.

As Sergeant I found I had quite a bit of responsibility. Of course I have seen others do it but you don’t really get it until your there yourself. For example, class instructors will expect you to get the class in order after a break or at the beginning of the day. This was something I knew would be my responsibility, and to be honest with you I quite enjoyed telling my peers what to do, not that I’m a power tripper, please don’t get me wrong, it was just fun.

What is more fun is that they actually do it! We have a great group here in this academy. Everyone wants to succeed and understands what the person next to them is going through. I think we have molded together very well. Time has flown by very quickly, Deputy Hoffmann told me it is because of how well we have come together, and that our class has done very well as a team.

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!"

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.

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.