Busy Week Four...

Hey everyone! I’m so sorry that there hasn’t been many updates this week. I am going to try to change that. You might not think this but, it is a lot of work going to class for 40 hours per week, studying, and having a life :) This week has seemed to have flown by without a blink. For class lectures we have covered Investigative Procedures, basic Criminal Code law, Arrest Control, Verbal Judo, and today we had out first lecture about firearms!

All of our instructors have been doing a great job! Monday started off with Investigative Procedures taught by Investigator Acierno. Investigator Acierno has a TON of experience throughout the field of law enforcement. He specifically talked to us about robbery, theft, burglary and why those actions are done by people. He shared a lot of his knowledge and made it applicable to us through real life examples that he has experienced. It was a great lecture and exciting to see the different fields that are available to us as police officers.

D.A. Clifford kept our attention Monday afternoon by talking about “Crimes Against Persons.” Of course that meant that we explored what all those crimes were and how they are relevant to us. We learned about homicide, what makes up first and second degree murder, manslaughter, assault, kidnapping, and robbery...just among the few. The D.A. presented his previous cases and how they applied to the law.

All day Tuesday we had our first day of “Arrest Control.” I think that a lot of us were thinking that we might be able to wrestle each other...not just yet. We must learn the Force Continuum first before we go around practicing on each other :) Sargent Gompert did an awesome job introducing what exactly we are going to be learning within Arrest Control. Our training will consist of a total of 78 hours. We will be practicing and preparing our minds, thought process, and bodies for those times where verbal direction will not be enough. Gompert reminded us towards the end of class, that every time we put on the uniform we have to be mentally prepared to go all the way. What a way to leave class eh? :)

We had the privilege of having Colorado State Patrol Technician Gallegos come in and teach us all about “Verbal Judo.” As she taught the class, it was apparent that she was using the technique on us the entire time! Technician Gallegos in my opinion, really knows the art of talking with people. The main goal of using verbal judo is to get voluntary compliance from a complete stranger while upholding the law. Through the exercises in the class we learned that we as police officers cannot take things personal, there is no reason to. Technician Gallegos did a great job instructing the class and teaching us real core principles while talking and confronting people as we do our jobs.

Today we had our first day of firearms! Of course there were no guns or ammo in the classroom. We first must learn the most important part about this course: rules for the tools that we carry. Knowing and being able to recite the Universal Gun Handling Rules is a MUST! There are many steps that our class will do even before getting to the shooting range. I appreciate the knowledge that I am learning about our tool belt and the applications for each of them. I am only looking forward to learning more!

Tomorrow is PT and our second inspection, so I have to iron, and rest!!

Here are some pics of us practicing Verbal Judo in our played out scenarios.

First Assessment

We all knew this was coming...but the hammer came down! Friday morning started our soreness for this past weekend, thank you Deputy Joselyn! We were asked to do as many push-ups and sit-ups that we could do in a minute, as well as a mile and a half run. We have a fit class, but I think overall our classmate Lance could just about run circles around anyone. Lance finished his run in around 10:30! I thought I did well to my standards, but was blown away by our class winner...Ryan. Ryan accomplished 83 push-ups, 54 sit-ups, and had a time of 11:05 for the mile and a half run! Great work Ryan!

We then headed into class for our first written test of the academy. I will be honest with you...I was unprepared. Although I was disappointed at how I did on the test, I was proud of our class as a whole. I am proud because they are my peers who will be out on the streets, in the County jails, or even end up in Ward :) (inside joke) and they are preparing themselves for success. I write this knowing that I will not let myself or my classmates down again for the entire academy.

Friday ended with our last section of Search and Seizure. We concluded the class with discussions about different cases that involved the laws of search and seizure. Below is a couple pictures from that exercise.

More soon to come...

Start of Week 3

Monday morning kicked off with the hardest workout we have had yet! We started out with some warm up exercises and eventually made it into doing a sprint relay race...which I must say, our team won! I’m sure that it was because of my other teammates though...way to go Josh, Eric, and Matt. Deputy Joselyn, Deputy Ackerman, and Deputy Taplin were there to lead our group through our workout. They also talked about why staying in shape is so important. Not only for just our primary health reasons, but also staying fit could one day save our own life or help save another. I guess that means no more brownies for me, sad days...

Before making it to lunch on Monday, our class lecture was about biohazard awareness. That made lunch extra tasty...yummm. After lunch, we came back to class for our last part lecture on the Judicial Process. Learning that there are different courts for different offenses is new to me.

Today, we covered Articles 1 and 2 within the Criminal Code. WOW! I know that all the information that we are learning is equipping us to do our job to the best of our abilities...but that is a TON of information! We were educated with Sentencing, to Protective Orders, to Defendants Rights, to Entrapment, to Solicitation and everything in between...in reference to only Criminal Code that is. (that was only the first 2 articles) Our instructor did a great job keeping the class active and attentive with discussions and hypothetical situations that we could come up against in our careers.

Our class was given some time to study and review the material that we have learned about until now. I didn’t know where to start! Myself and a few other people gathered around and started quizzing each other which helped out a lot...but now its time for me to get studying!

Hit the Ground Running...Literally

Evening everyone, hope everybody had a great weekend! I rested up this weekend cause I knew come this week we are starting PT (physical training). Have to be honest with you, (and I am crossing my fingers that my instructors skim over this part) I think that we are getting off easy compared to what I was expecting. Monday, we had a team run that included some push ups. In class, we covered Leadership and reviewed the Criminal Process all afternoon.

Our Leadership class taught us what characteristics we need to have as well as those we may need to work on in our career. We had an exercise where we had to practice different situations that involved taking leadership. It was a good exercise, and the instructors did a great job making the situation as realistic as possible.

Our Criminal Process lecture covered subjects such as our Bill of Rights, our court system, and the Country’s judicial process. I never realized just how in depth these topics are and how much information is involved. I am excited to learn more about it.

Today started off with some PT this morning...below is some pictures of what we accomplished.

Getting ready to stretch

On our way

Sprints anyone?

How about some lunges....

We had Preliminary Investigations this afternoon...which was AWESOME! This course has probably taught me the most thus far in the academy. Our instructor, Investigator Battan, knows her stuff. She is so passionate about her job which makes learning from her so easy and interesting. We were taught how to initially respond and secure a crime scene, as well as conducting a preliminary investigation. We ended the class with a few different scenarios that we were all able to participate in. Come to find out these “scenarios” were real situations that took place. Our class did a great job securing the crime scenes and starting our preliminary investigations in the scenarios.

I am excited for the new classes to come and will let you know what we learn soon enough!

Expectations Set...

Hey there, my name is Alan and I am going to be one of the recruits that represents our 2011-1 academy at Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and am honored to to do so. I hope to be able to give you a good idea of what academy life is going to be like for you future cadets and for you civilians out there...enjoy the inside look into the preparation we go through for our law enforcement agencies.

A little about myself; I have a beautiful supporting wife who I confide in everyday, and I wouldn’t be here without her! We have a furry baby named Sadie who keeps us busy...basically all the time. My wife and I are originally from California where we both grew up and where our families still live. We met while we were attending college at Azusa Pacific University in California. We stuck around the Los Angeles area for another four years and then decided that Los Angeles was a good place to be from ;). So we packed our bags and moved out to Colorado.

I was a Business Administration major in college...still not sure why...but I always knew deep down inside, I wanted to make a positive difference in peoples lives. When I received the word that I was accepted into the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office I was honestly overfilled with joy. I knew this was a position that I would have the opportunity to make a positive difference.

This past week I honestly have to say that my eyes were opened to A LOT. We have covered all our introductory paperwork, talked a lot about PT and what to expect...”it’s going to be fun...” (so they say) So you might be wondering who “they” are; well we have a great staff of instructors, Deputy Joselyn, Deputy Ackerman and Sergeant Beaulieu. They all have some great experience under their belts and knowledge that we get to tap for the next 20 weeks! We then learned that leaning on each other and having that peer support is a very crucial part of making it through this type of career. I have to say this academy is already coming together as one large team. We all bring different strengths to the table in order to achieve the same goal...making a difference.

I want to share more of what we learned in this first week, but I don’t want to scare away any potential readers. I will include some of the statistics that we learned about in the next few blogs and I hope to have some pictures of our class up as well. So here is to the next 20 weeks!