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Coming soon: new blogs from the next class of academy recruits -- beginning in late July!

Graduation

6.19.2009

I was lucky enough to get the chance to give our class’ graduation speech today. Below is a copy.

The day was a good one.

Jefferson County Law Enforcement Academy Class 2009-01
Graduation Speech

It’s an honor and a privilege to be speaking to you all, and to be speaking for the class today. I would like to thank Sheriff Mink, Undersheriff Fleer and every one of our friends, our family, our instructors and command staff for joining us in the celebration of this day.

From the very start of the academy we’ve been surrounded by some extraordinary people who have taught us, who have led us, who have given their best to shape our minds, our thinking and inevitably shape our careers as Peace Officers. From our very first day I was struck with the force and the honesty of what many of these instructors had to say. From powerful, personal stories of struggle and ultimate growth, to impassioned appeals directing us to seek excellence in all that we do – most every message, most every lesson was one given by an individual bearing a bit of their soul with a seasoned kind of humble honesty which only life and life’s experiences can cultivate.

I would like to thank our command staff and the administrators of the academy for placing these extraordinary people in front us, every day. I know that I and every one of my fellow recruits will have some very potent, some very long lasting memories of each of you and of the knowledge that you gave.

Thank you Captain W….. , for teaching us to write a proper and thorough report; and to never click a pen in a Captain’s presence again.

Thank you Captain S…… and Lieutenant W……. for organizing and maintaining one of the best law enforcement academies in the state; and for giving us the easiest and most anti-climactic Friday morning command inspections we could have imagined.

Sgt. B…….. I was never quite sure if there was a hidden message behind one of the department’s toughest, gruffest and brawniest sergeants teaching a decidedly PC topic such as Community Policing, but I wanted to let you know that your honesty and your openness on your experiences at Columbine touched us all very deeply.

Investigator S…... Your classes were always the coolest.

Sgt. W…. Your stories were always the best, and your appearance always the most highly groomed.

Deputy V……. Your biceps were the biggest.

Sgt. B…….. Your skills in a car were impressive, your stories were great, and incidentally you became our best and most prolific nickname-giver, providing us names like ‘Angel’ (i.e. Charlie’s Angels) given to the guy over there who will probably start laughing nervously right about now.

Officer O….. You were our Samurai sensei. We all had images of you in a white suit and sunglasses, doing back-flips before taking a stance like something from the Matrix and shooting 5 bad guys between the eyes from a pair of handguns that mysteriously appeared from your shirtsleeves.

Sgt. DeA….. and Sgt. De…... We sat in your classes like kids just confronted by their childhood heroes, wide-eyed and inspired.

DA’s Mark Pautler and Mark Randall. I was tempted to write the Denver Post and to explain to them that from what I saw and learned in your law classes, both of you are absolutely worth every penny as the highest paid employees in Jefferson County.

Sgt. Wh….. Our vocabularies have been infinitely expanded with your help. Unfortunately I cannot repeat any of those words here…

Deputy S……... Your nickname to all of us was Hollywood. Rare is the arrest control instructor who can wear Gucci sunglasses and a spray tan and get away with it. You were the exception. You taught us to take care of ourselves and you did it with class, and even broke an arm in the process. Even the Israelis would be impressed.

Sgt. W…... From day one, I felt like a member of the audience of the Tonight Show, every time you’d speak to the class. There’s an uncanny physical resemblance and I believe that you’re every bit as funny as Jay Leno. You were always there to accentuate a particularly important piece of instruction, there to encourage, there to instruct.

Deputy H……. Our lead firearms instructor and Deputy J’s other half and complement. At times it appeared to us that there was a purposeful mother/father or good cop/bad cop dynamic between the two of you. Deputy J would scold us, and you would offer us some bit of comforting, quiet humor. You taught us firearms with skill and devotion and ran the training range like a quiet general. Thank you, Mom.

And finally, to our coordinator, Deputy J.

Sir, I am still, and will always be afraid of you.

You were quick to anger, yet equally quick to laughter, and even tears. It happened on more than one occasion when, during the drudgery of a class on statutes the monotony would be interrupted by an outburst of your laughter, heard even through solid walls and a closed door. We would all share in a collective smile.

We had the pleasure of getting to know your daughter from the stories you told, and the messages you relayed: “Ashley says HI….” (for instance)

We even received gifts from time to time. Thank you Ashley, for my surfboard.

Sir, even without the pushups, and even without the military etiquette, you instilled in every one of us a deep respect for the badge and a deep respect for the duty shared by each individual wearing the gold star. Your presence alone commanded respect and in my mind you are the epitome of a strong and thinking Sheriff’s Deputy, our department’s own John Wayne.

None of our instructors ever hid from us the seriousness of the profession that we are entering. Nothing was ever sugar coated. As peace officers we will now be part of the thin blue line, (or in JeffCo’s case, the thin green line), where battles are fought daily between opposing extremes – life and death, justice and villainy, peace and chaos.

I mentioned earlier the theme of honesty which was present throughout our days. After this afternoon each one of my classmates will be a part of system which, when one looks closely, is truly remarkable by virtue of the limits it places on itself, the self reflection it ensures; the self effacement it demands. We are now part of the law, now the enforcers of society’s own check, which society has placed upon itself to ensure that justice be done and that the innocent be protected. We are the protectors of democracy’s freedoms, and of democracy’s inherent demand of structure and order.

Because of our time here we will take these duties to heart. We will laugh when we can and we will fight when we must, but always, with honesty and dignity will we serve and protect, by courage and arms. Thank you.

Little Things, Among the Big…

I just finished ironing some uniforms. I also finished cutting the badge holes into the my uniforms above the left front pockets. Holes in the fabric. For a badge.

Yup. It was an epiphany of sorts – one of those small, mundane moments when the force of the ‘now’ hits; when you realize what’s going on in the present. In less than 72 hours I’ll have a badge.

The last two weeks have been a blur. Today we took our POST certification test. (I passed, btw). We then hit the much-talked-about Lookout Mountain Run. Both were honestly a bit anti-climactic for me. But…the badge holes….now THAT’S inspirational. (yes, the tongue is in my cheek).

Last week we were TASED (which wasn’t mandatory, of course). I thought about writing a whole entry on it, but it really comes down to one thing: pain. Lots of it. It hurts. I’ll never need to experience it again to ‘remember’ what that kind of pain felt like.

Last week we had some pretty educational, and fun, experiences in the classroom – in a mock crime scene investigation and in a pretty dynamic ‘wet lab’ where various deputies and department staff get drunk (in a perfectly cordial and controlled environment) and allow us to practice our DUI identification skills.

This week we’re preparing for our graduation ceremony. I just got off the phone with some friends who are coming…I gave ‘em directions, gave them the invite to the dinner my parents are throwing afterward. Suddenly, 20 weeks are up, after a lot of pain, a lot of joy and accomplishment, and a lot of hard work. Just like that. You start as a nervous, wide-eyed new recruit, and the next thing you know you’re cutting holes in your uniforms for a BADGE.

Just a thought.

Anyway, here are some pictures!!! :

Me. In pain. Flattering image, eh? They’re laughing, by the way, because I let out this horrendous howl. It slowly faded in intensity as my lungs ran out of air. It sounded like someone was falling from a cliff or something. “Ahhhhhh…hhhh…hhh…hh..h”

Self explanatory!

Mock Crime Scene!

Interviewing at a "crime scene"

Photographing evidence at a "crime scene"

Wet Lab!

Roadside sobriety tests

Some walk a straight line better than others.

Checking eye movement

More eye movement

Walk the line

DRIVING, Continued…

Thanks Deputy B. for sharing your car with us!

So, last week I mentioned a secret desire to see and possibly film a wicked crash. It didn’t happen. I did, however, do a 360 at about 55mph into the dirt. That kind of counts, eh?

Seriously though, I was impressed with our cars, our track, our instructors. We also got a ton of driving time. When the week began I expected to be sitting around for 7 ½ hours out of the day, and driving maybe 30 mins. NOT the case. We got a ton of practice in (which is why nearly disqualifying (in my case) on the open course is somewhat embarrassing, ha).

Getting ready for the next run.

Driving home on I-70 after the days had ended was a hoot. I had to consciously slow myself down. Laws are meant to be obeyed, Will. Speed limits are laws. This is your job now. Jeez.

Taking a break while the instructors set up the next course.
Good looking group of men and women, I think.
Call a JeffCo recruiter today.

These last three weeks have been as intense as any we’ve experienced in the Academy. On Monday I was TASED (don’t fight with the cops!). Today we had a full day of mock crime scene practice. INTENSE. But with a ton of world-class help from Investigations’ Finest. This is really where my own personal interests lie. It was fascinating and extremely educational to go through an investigative scenario from start to finish with the help of some true pros. Stay tuned for further postings on my smoking hot date with about 10 trillion electrons operating at 50,000 volts, as well as our experiences investigating and arresting an attempted murderer (mock, mock, of course).

Night drive…lights and sirens! Noise and flashing lights!

Fast Cars and Psychedelic Paint Bullets

SIMS!

I have this scab on my arm. I actually took a picture of it and was even thinking of posting it here but you should all be thankful that the voice of reason (albeit a tired and wheezing voice) was heard, and I decided to NOT post the picture.

These Simunitions (Sims) things hurt.



They’re effectively bullets of paint fired out of converted handguns, coming at you at about half the speed of a real bullet…

But they’re also really instructive and a ton of fun. We played out various scenarios over the course of a couple of days. When you get hurt, you know it, and you DON’T make the same mistake twice. Some pics from our adventures:














Thanks be to Deputy H., for all his hard work. May your cleaning rods never rust!


DRIVING!



This is fun. Shear fun. I’ve never had so much fun before while getting PAID. These are just a sampling. We’re two days into the driving program, with the rest of the week to come. Stay tuned!

And I’ll confess…I’m secretly hoping for a minor crash…provided no one gets hurt, no property is damaged, and the VIDEO is rolling, of course. Everyone’s driving pretty well though…and it didn’t happen today, even with torrential down-pours and high speed maneuvers. Sometimes one can only hope.





Thanks, Deputy J, for the pictures!

Such Is the State of Things

I’m guessing that it’s natural to think of Spring, and the coming of Summer when Memorial Day hits. Recently we had an extra day off for the holiday. Besides being welcome, and NEEDED (my fellow recruits and I were teetering on the brink of collapse), all the downtime, the couch time, the beer-and-hot-dog time gave me an opportunity to dwell a bit upon my Academy experience, and to gawk a bit at the surprising realization that we’re getting near to the end.

Today we took our formal class pictures for graduation. The scene, by the way, was great. Picture a perfect Spring day in Colorado, skies blue, breeze blowing. 70 degrees. Red Rocks. Tourists. Lots of tourists. Lots of tourists watching as 41 bright and wide-eyed recruits came marching down the flag stone walkway, in full uniform (we’ve graduated to belts and guns even!) marching to a cadence sung by our own Deano, in deep baritone bass that rivaled even the stuff the guys down below doing a sound check for an upcoming concert could dish out with their subwoofers …

Firearms training; check. Arrest Control; check. OC Spray; check. We’ve done a lot. A lot is left to come – and even then we’re really we’re just beginning the journey as rookies. Mixed feelings. Daunted by all that’s left to come. I’m somewhat proud of our little accomplishments, proud at how we have all grown a bit in a relatively short period of time.

“Hell Day” PT with Sgt. W. It may not have been ‘Hell’, but …

A pull-up or two …or maybe 23?

Liquid FIRE.

We had to fight a dummy for 30 seconds after the spray. It gets your mind off the steadily increasing pain. Trent hitting away at what (at this point) he can’t see.

Yours truly wondering when the pain was going to REALLY hit. It did. Right after I had that thought.

Twitter

So this Twitter thing…have you heard about this, do you know about this? I thought to myself today that if, IF I were Twittering, today would have been a good one to Twitter about. In homage to Twitter, I’ve prepared some sample Twitters for the day…a true day in the life of an Academy Recruit.

(I promise I won’t use the word “Twitter” again!)

7:32am
Coffee. Glorious coffee. We have ‘scenarios’ in Arrest Control today. AC techniques, use of force continuum applications running through my head. Fear of failure, but motivated to hit it hard…

8:55am
First one down. Deputy S. was playing a drunk. I did ok, but talked too much, and used an arm bar to arrest when I should have used a simply, lowly ‘bent wrist’.

9:22am
Disaster! Deputy S. tripped on a mat, fell and broke his arm! We’re all outside of the mat room waiting for word on his condition. Rhod is inside splinting him up.

9:50am
Deputy S. just left for the hospital. He apologized to US. Unbelievable. Class. Pure class. Thanks, and GOOD LUCK!

10:12am
We keep on going, even after Deputy S.’s injury. Second scenario goes well. Garrett and I separate two ‘bar patrons’ who were going at it. We didn’t hesitate. I was proud of this.

11:15am
Scenario 3! Cody and I dealing with a domestic violence situation. Do well, no hesitation in arresting the guy, but could have been a little smoother, and could have communicated better. Cody’s a trip.

1:15pm
RAID active shooter scenarios in a vacant office building. The place smells like mildew. Dark. Dank. Creepy. And perfect. Using simunitions today. Suited up and ready to go.

1:55pm
Welts! These things hurt. Sergeant W. giving us some good instruction. We line up and practice shooting the simunitions on a partner, Tombstone “draw and duel” style. Rhod lays some head shots on my mask. Covered in orange paint!

2:35pm
First scenario down. We could have done better. Someone threw a round and missed the ‘shooter’. This could have been me, ha. Rhod, Jim, Chad and I in the contact group. We didn’t enter into the darkened room simultaneously (as we should have). Should have been slower, calmer, more methodical.

3:01pm
Second scenario. We rocked it. Emptied our mags into the shooter. I was point. Chad, Rhod right there with me. Situation was chaotic. SWAT guys yelling at us, simulating a real, loud, riotous scenario. We kept it slow, tight and organized. Felt good.

4:03pm
Third scenario. Failure! Scott was the ‘bad guy’, and armed with a sim-converted Glock. He definitely won. Tough scenario. We all got shot I think. Welts up the side of my chest. I had a weapon malfunction and took cover (which was WRONG!) and kind of screwed up the rest of my crew. Sgt. W. made us do it again….and again. Didn’t end the day on a high note…

*These last week has gone by extremely fast. We’re getting closer to the end of the Academy and can all feel it. I have a bunch of media that I’ll post soon, very soon. Sprayed in the face with pepper (OC) spray. Driven into the ground on our ‘Hell Day’ PT. And more, so much more. Stay tuned!*

Week 15!

5.12.2009

A few months ago I mentioned that I didn’t want to be a blog monopolist (blog-opolist). I meant it! I asked three of my classmates if they wanted to say anything about the Academy and their progress so far. Here’s what they had to say, as well as a little bit of info on them.

Lance

I grew up in northern Pennsylvania and am a graduate of Penn State University. I hold degrees in Wildlife Technology and Recreation and Parks Management. For the past 11 years I worked for a non-profit wildlife conservation organization as a regional director.

In 1996 & 1997 I was a Deputy Sheriff in Virginia. I attended a police academy in 1996 and enjoyed law enforcement but for whatever reason the timing wasn't right and I changed careers. Eleven years later I am back in law enforcement and am loving life. My former academy training was great but the caliber of training I have received at Jefferson County has far-surpassed the training I received in Virginia. The JeffCo academy training is incredibly intense and thorough. I know I've spent two, maybe three, times the hours on the shooting range and performing practicals. I can't think of a better place to train for a career in law enforcement. The emphasis put on discipline, training and perfection are key. I believe when I leave this academy I will be as prepared as I can possibly be for the career ahead. I am confident that I will know how to react in most situations I'll encounter. I also have the confidence to know that no matter what happens I will never give up and I will win. The cornerstone value of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is Integrity. Integrity is just as important as training...you'll get a healthy dose of both in this academy. I feel very fortunate to be a recruit here.

Dana

28 years old.
Born and raised in Wisconsin got certified a police officer there in 2001 and then left right after to join the Air Force.
Did 6 years in the Air Force as signals intelligence.
Masters degree in Criminal Justice.
Wife and mother of 3 (ages 3, 2, and 4 months).

It is intriguing how much information they can cram into 20 weeks. Now at 15 weeks into it, 20 weeks isn't nearly enough. I remember all my feelings and emotions of the unknown from the beginning of the academy like they were yesterday. They are slowly creeping back as we will soon be starting the next chapter of our careers. It has definitely been an experience of a lifetime, I am excited to apply everything that I've been taught. I know graduation is right around the corner and I am prepared and looking forward to the continuing challenges.

Jeff

Hello, my name is Jeffrey and I am currently attending the Jefferson County Police Academy for the Arvada Police Department. I moved to Colorado about 8 months ago with my wife from Boston Massachusetts. My wife and I always wanted to move to Colorado so we sold our house and traveled across the country. I managed my father’s car dealership for 8 years prior before its closing in April of 2008.

The experience of the academy has been unique and exciting for me. From day one we are taught to work and build as a team. The relationships that you build at the academy are forever lasting, which is exactly what everyone tells you from the beginning. It’s almost a given that the relationships are built because of the amount of time you spend with your fellow recruits and the whole mentality of success as a team. The other recruits are in essence your family for 20 weeks.

I don’t think that I am alone when I say that there are many tasks and skills that you perform in the academy that you have doubt on how well your proficiency will actually be. Through hard work, determination, good supervision, and fellow classmates you succeed. In most cases you don’t just succeed, you excel at these absolutely necessary skills. The skills on the surface may seem simple but when you add in some stress, they can be quite challenging but we all get through it.

In summation, the academy is all about team building, routines, challenging yourself, and winning. You must learn to work as a team because it is the backbone of successful policing. You need to build a routine so that the important issues are focused on, not the petty things. You need to challenge yourself because someone out there is challenging themselves to beat you. Most importantly, we are hired, trained, and expected to win!

5.6.2009

I’ve been blessed with the honor of our Class Sergeant title this week (which really just means more work and more responsibility) and today on a PT run, I tried out this little cadence. The names mentioned are classmates, obviously. And yeah, the jokes are all of the ‘inside’ variety, but I thought some of ‘em were pretty catchy:

Mama mama can’t you see!
Just what JeffCo has done to me.
Push-ups ‘till our arms are blue!
This ain’t a place but for the brave and the few.

Building searches, in dark, vacant, creepy buildings.

Mama mama can’t you see!
Just what John Z. has done to me.
Bless us mother for we have sinned!
But with the Rev right here we can do it again.

More building searches!

Mama mama can’t you see!
Just what Bin-Diesel has done to me.
Vail better beware and expect a show!
When Bin-Diesel gets his new Volvo.

Mama mama can’t you see!
Just what the KING has done to me.
With a mouth and jokes, ever-expanding.
And oh yes Mama, he’s really standing.

Garrett, moving fast and looking intense.

Mama mama can’t you see!
Just what Trent W. has done to me.
Call I-T we need help with the printer!
Be sure to send your fastest sprinter!

Mama mama can’t you see!
Just what Rhodri L. has done to me.
This guy knows how to have some fun!
EVERY academy should have an Austral-IAN

Skills Class Update…!

We’re half-way through week 13 and it’s unbelievable how quickly time is passing (part of this is a result of the very small amount of time we have to reflect on this fact). BUT, for the last two weeks it feels as if we’ve been studying what most people think of as real police work. To say it’s been fun is an understatement. I thought I’d give a kind of overview…

Most of last week was comprised of CSI type stuff. As we were told, many times, you can’t take the burned-in image of a victim’s killer from their retinas, BUT, there are some seriously cool tools that we’ll have at our disposal. Think fingerprints. Think national DNA databases. Think microscopic fiber analysis. (Our crime scene investigators are every bit as attractive and engaging as Gill Grissom and the like, by the way).

Fingerprinting!

Footprints in the snow!!!

Our days on the firing range have been a ton of fun. We’ve done a bit of work on the tactical range (multiple close-range targets set up to mimic real-life shooting scenarios, barricades, mock building walls, mock active-shooter scenarios, etc). Today was a hoot: simulated active shooter scenario (school shooting) complete with instructors banging on buckets like drums, shouting at you with blow horns, grabbing at you and hitting you every time you were ‘shot’. Stress!

We go through these scenarios one at a time and every time, before it’s your turn, your stomach churns with butterflies. You wait. You plan your actions. You self-talk. It never fails though…afterward, when the screaming’s stopped, you immediately want to run the course all over again for the fun of it. (And I’ll have pics of today’s fun posted on my next entry, for sure).

(Oh, and before I forget, I’d like to thank Big Daddy (Jones) for some excellent advice on what not to do on the driving range…and for what definitely to do during a good vehicle contact!)

We’ve also begun fully evolved, more realistic police contact scenario training. Vehicle and pedestrian stops that bring it ALL into play; everything we’ve learned over the last 3 months (law, communication techniques, arrest control, firearms, etc). These are challenging, to say the least. Who ever said police work was going to be easy? The pics below are from last week’s pedestrian contacts class. Trent, Josh, Molly and Laura all played our contact ‘subjects’. They were good…take a look at what Trent’s wearing! All of these exercises are structured to simulate possible challenging ‘realistic’ encounters. We all biff it on these in one way or another (I need to work on my post-arrest suspect searches, for instance) but we all seriously value these learning experiences.

Trent doing way too good a job playing a stumbling drunk in the middle of the highway.

More pedestrian contacts

Vehicle Contacts! These are tougher than you think…

Preparing to contact a citizen in a car

A little advice from a veteran instructor

A laugh to lighten the mood

The Myth of Sisyphus, Version 2.0

I just got a text from a buddy of mine who ran the Boston Marathon today. The guy finished it in 3:08, which, for those of you out there who don’t run, is a GREAT time. (I typically run a mile in a long distance run at around a 7:30 pace. My friend did the entire marathon, 26.2 miles, averaging something like 6:55 per mile!). I do have a point here…

Vehicle Searches!

Anything you do, anything you think you’re good at, anything you’ve been told you’re good at…well, there’s someone out there, probably many people out there who are better at it than you.

The connection that I’m making here between law enforcement, this academy, and this somewhat (negative) observation is this: Our instructors, our coordinators, our peers – they’ve all been working pretty hard to get it into our heads that the only way to succeed in this, the only way to grow, the only way to shine is to keep at it. Keep trying. Keep learning, keep practicing, keep getting better. Keep fighting.

Ian and Chris about to be made examples of…
(but doing an awesome job, as always…our stars from Arvada).

No one can be a master of all his trades, but through hard work, through grit and sweat and blood we can get better, and we can get close to mastery. If we’ve been taught anything these last 12 weeks, we’ve been taught that a continuous pursuit of perfection is absolutely necessary for this line of work…

The Sgt. giving us a tour of the old JeffCo Jail on a cold, wet morning. I bet there were many (clients) who felt a bit cold and wet when they entered into that building…

(Pushups are a favorite tool of our coordinators, along with a few choice words spoken at high decibel levels, in instilling this in us).

Looking at the graffiti scratched into an old dining table in the jail.
I won’t be posting what it actually said. :)

And behind this pursuit can only lie a kind of boiling determination. Sure, the guy that you have to lay hands on to arrest may have just spent the last 10 years pumping iron 4 hours a day in a Department of Corrections bed and breakfast, but he’s not going to care, he’s not going to want to win as much as you. And consequently, naturally, undoubtedly – he won’t.

“A Failure of Memory …”

Ok, so this image is a few weeks old, but I was scrolling through my picture files and was surprised that I hadn’t posted it (time flies, and distractions happen, in law enforcement academies!). This was a good experience. As our instructors said, if you can shoot well in a blizzard, imagine how you’ll shoot when it’s 72 degrees and sunny.

And, the picture really doesn’t have to do with this posting, but hey, it’s a good one.

For most of the evening I’ve been grinding the mental gears, attempting to will a good posting into existence. Imagine my mind as an old Ford truck…from the 60’s maybe, rusting away in a field. An old farmer gets in, starts the engine grudgingly and painfully puts it in gear, lets out of the clutch with a squeal and slowly, cacophonously, the machine creeps along through the dust and mud and the weeds…

My brain hurts.

I read somewhere once which spoke to the lack of pain receptors in the human brain. I think now that this was fictitious. Some doctoral student playing a prank. My brain really does hurt.

In previous postings I’ve touched on the shear amount of information we’re required to learn and more accurately MEMORIZE during this academy, but I’ve only hinted…

Currently I’m working on my last column of street rotations (streets in JeffCo along with their block numbers…approximately 300 streets in all). I’m working on memorizing the Bill of Rights and our firearms safety rules verbatim. I have the JCSO mission statement, values, and vision statement down (I think) as well as most of the names of departmental command staff. That leaves the material for our fifth test due tomorrow, including mountains of traffic code, various facts on domestic terrorist groups, performance data on less-lethal weapons as well as strategies in dealing with suspect interrogations and confessions.

We’ve all been weaned off of bottles and mere glasses full of the stuff – we take our mental nourishment through fire hoses ONLY these days.

And, incidentally, the title of this posting – “A Failure of Memory…”. Well, when we miss a question on a quiz or a test we’re required to write out a disciplinary memo to our coordinator elaborating on the REASONS behind that (failure). I’ve found myself relying on this phrase more often than I’d like to admit. It is, however, accurate. It’s honest. (Now if I could just get it to NEVER happen again…!)

“For I am Involved in Mankind…”

Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was titled after this poem. It’s one of my favorites (and incidentally, one of Sen. John McCain’s too, I read somewhere once).

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

John Donne, 1624

There are some lines in the poem that stand out, I think.

During the last two weeks, seven law enforcement officers across the country died in the line of duty, in violent incidents perpetrated by individuals acting alone, who simply didn’t care – neither for the lives of fellow men and women, nor for their own (lives granted them by their mothers, their fathers, their God … i.e. someone other than themselves), and these individuals made the decision to stop the beating hearts of people who DID (care).

“Each man’s death diminishes me…”

As I slowly make progress toward the badge, these things begin to be felt more; their significance grows inside. Each of my classmates feels the same way. Good people.

Hmm.

That’s it. That’s all I wanted to say. I tried thinking of someway to ‘wrap’ up an entry on senseless violence, but in the end concluded that there isn’t a moral, there isn’t a lesson, there isn’t even any kind of statement that can be made. I think the best we can do is to feel it. To remember it. To not let the tragedies be felt and forgotten, to not let the sufferers of those tragedies be set apart as “Islands…Entire of themselves.”

Week 8 Done and Gone.

The FUN has BEGUN!!! (Now If I Only Had Time to Reflect on That…)

I had dinner with my parents this weekend.

We met in Castle Rock at this little, quiet place that has the distinction for us as being the place my sister broke the news of her engagement (to a great guy who treats her very well, and who is making an exceptional addition to the Air Force’s pilot corps as the pilot jock that every little boy wanted to be when he was 8…).

But yes. 8 Weeks. As the parents grilled me on the last two months (over a pretty good beer) I suddenly realized (again) that my life has become this, and this alone. I touched on this theme a bit in a previous posting, but it’s a pretty significant topic, I think…

I’m having fun, undoubtedly, and the days have become increasingly engaging. Firearms (with live ammo, in a blizzard this week!), Arrest Control, Investigative Procedures, etc … it’s all become much more ‘real’. But the tendency has been for me to lose perspective a bit as the intensity has increased – to lose sight of the fact that this stuff that we’re doing, this knowledge we’re gaining, this fun we’re having – is inherently cool and at the same time very, very serious (see my Serious Business post from Week 1).

There’s a strong tendency to get caught up in the work, in the activity, in the excitement and the anxiety…

After my workout tonight, driving home from the gym, I made a kind of pact with myself to step back a bit from time to time during the next 3 months and breathe it in, soak it in, ‘smell it’ so to speak. A transition, a change, a pretty hefty transmutation is happening in the lives of every one of my classmates right now. I’ll still get caught up in it, but I’m going to try and be present for it, to be present fully during this change, and hopefully learn a bit more in the process.

(And have a bit more fun too…)

West Metro Swat gave a pretty wicked presentation, one of the best we’ve had the last two months. Here’s the county’s armored personnel carrier. Cool, eh?

The APC’s baby brother.

Every one of us was deeply impressed with the SWAT team members who presented the class. I know that many of us (me included) discovered a bit of hero-worship on our faces as the day ended.

The Sergeant sets off a “Flash Bang” explosive device in the Academy parking lot, which blew a few car alarms :)

And stay tuned…for possible video next posting!