Graphical…!

So, to balance out the heaviness of the last posting, I thought I’d throw in something a bit more light-hearted. Who doesn’t like a few good pics, eh?

(Especially when they’re of such attractive people.)

Our sometimes-gym. A kind of brutal beauty I think…
especially when you add some quad-burn to the mix.

The class during warmups.

Waiting at the bottom of the stairs (waiting to RUN UP).
Yours truly at left, Lance to the right of me, with Mike,
Anthony and the rest of the crew behind.

Cody complete with expertly administered first aid.
From left: Bill, Aaron, Cody and Chad.

Laura saving a life!

Rhod and a little friend.

Look at that ACTION! We told Dean afterward
that he had his orange vest on backwards…

And to end on a slightly more somber note:
Our morning Fallen Law Enforcement Officer Tribute.
Front Column: Don, Josh, Cody and Chad.

Special Thanks to our Coordinators for some of these pictures!!!

Sgt's Story

There was a palpable sense that we had just heard something special.

No one spoke, really. No one asked any questions – certainly not about the real topic we had just heard discussed. Our questions would have seemed piteous, petty, pathetic even in comparison to what was just said with such quiet power.

We felt lucky to have heard it.

Sgt. Beaulieu had just finished a two and a half hour, somewhat impromptu talk and the subject was his experience as an assistant SWAT team leader on a fateful April day in 1999.

He was one of the first to enter the Library of the high school, the first to see its horrors.

I was struck, we were all struck by the reality, the shear and unapologetic reality of the story. This is it. This is life. This is part of the job, this might one day be part of your life, he was saying.

There’s a lot of life experience centered, concentrated in this department (in any law enforcement department, I’d venture) – like some kind of dense, gravitational mass – a mass that other objects gravitate toward (even revolve around). Gigantic, blindingly bright stars that attract other bodies toward them, and at the same time radiate with their light and with their intensity.

Experience. Knowledge. Sophistication. As a recruit, as a student, I am repeatedly struck by the people, by my superiors, so willing to open up and impart this wisdom and this knowledge and this understanding to me.

It’s incredible.

Thanks Sarge.

Performance – Quantified.

Friday was a day of testing – of the body, mind, and well….soul, too, I suppose.

The morning academic test (our first) went well. I did ok…but could have done better. We’ve covered a ton of material in the first two weeks of class – most of it pretty varied. It was somewhat difficult to know how exactly to prepare and I spent most of my energies studying material that wasn’t necessarily needed.

To balance the mental exertions of the morning, we headed over to the School of Mines Field House for our first physical training (PT) assessment. Good stuff! For those of you who might be contemplating a career with JeffCo, and are thinking about testing for the next academy….be prepared physically! I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but there’s seriously some good competition in the class…and nothing can make you push more, can make you sweat just a little more than you thought you could, than your buddy breathing down your back.

From left: Jeff, Geoff, Chad hit the mile and a half run hard,
with John providing the ‘support’ on the right.

Max sit-ups, max pushups in a minute and a 1.5 mile run at speed makes for a good little workout – and we did alright. Our coordinators are cranking the workouts up a notch, ever so slowly. I just took a look at the schedule and saw that we have a workout at Red Rocks this Friday. I’ll be sure to take pictures…only the grimace factor might be a bit higher than these here.

Hmmm…(thinking). It might get progressively harder to get my classmates permission to post their smiling (or, as I said, GRIMACING, mugs online). I’ll have to ask nicely.

Yours truly in action. Thanks Lance!

Ready, Aim….Study!

2.12.2009

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we have our first academic test. (I’m debating whether or not to blog about my own, actual results when they come in. Maybe I’ll just build a bit of suspense.)

So, obviously, a good deal of this academy is academic. I knew this before I began. What has been surprising to me, however, has been the sheer VOLUME of material presented, and how intense the class sessions can be. Now, to be honest, none of it is organic chemistry or advanced differential equations, but there is a TON of it. Classes are typically taught in 4 hour blocks. Both the instructors (and my fellow students) show remarkable stamina throughout.

What has also struck me has been the unarguable quality and experience level of each and every one of our class instructors. Chief deputy district attorneys. Doctors of psychology. Sheriff’s deputies with decades of experience. And even the Undersheriff himself.

Undersheriff Fleer teaches a class on Ethics and Anti-Biased Policing

Nothing is more motivating than a teacher who knows what he or she is talking about; one who cares deeply about the subject matter being taught. Without exception, my classroom experiences these past two weeks have centered on this theme.

And speaking of motivation…

My nose will officially be in my statutes book (for at least a couple of hours) just as soon as I finish up this entry. Wish me luck?

Our First PT!

2.10.2009

“I don’t know, but I’ve been told…
My hands and feet are really cold!”

As a welcome break from the hours of class time that we’ve been experiencing over the past week, our first PT session was held Monday morning.

Think cold, think 60+ mph winds…

Mike holds our guidon in the wind.
The pic may not show it, but he’s having to brace himself.

I was half thinking that the coordinators would call the PT session off (it was that bad).

Call it off?!? I should do some push ups for the thought alone…

Running behind the Taj Mahal.

They made us run. They made us push. They gave it to us just as they should have (all, including our Sergeant, running with us) and at the end of the 90 minutes, with our noses running, our eyes watering, our hearts pounding we felt better for it. We felt like we had a little taste of what is likely to come…

(Stay tuned!)

Backgrounds

A little bit about me, before we go any further…

27, 5’ 11”, 175lbs, brown hair (well, in a kind of requiem for the hair I ONCE had), blue eyes. I have a degree in Economics from CU, Boulder which led me into a short, somewhat entrepreneurial career in commercial real estate finance. I grew up in a military family and lived in 6 different places as a kid, including South Korea and Hawaii. Colorado is, however, home. I’ve made it my home. Love hiking, backpacking, snowboarding and most of the other “-ings” that Colorado offers so superfluously. Personal interests include the martial arts (especially the Taoist internals) and this little workout phenomena called CrossFit. I’m single, have two dogs, and am very close to my immediate family. My social security number is 254 - …

No, really. Backgrounds are important. They tell people where you’ve been, what experiences have shaped your worldview. The first day of class each of us nervously stood up in front of the other 40 (and our coordinators) and briefly gave the spiel. What struck me immediately was how diverse our backgrounds are. There are a few fresh out of school. There are guys just back from Iraq. There are a few with decades of diverse work experience. There are former contractors, former business people, former fundraisers. There are military reservists, ex military special forces, and a tough, tough young woman who just had a baby 3 weeks before! In that moment, if one was listening, one would have gotten the basics, the “macro” factors that make each of us who we are, and contributed to our selection for this academy.

As some time has progressed, however; as I’ve talked to a good many of my classmates, and heard their thoughts spoken during class, I’ve begun to know the REAL reasons why they’re all here.

Most everyone in this Academy gets it. They care. They’re devoted and engaged and smart and energetic and …

I’m excited. The fires are stoked. I’m excited to learn and to work, to sweat and to bleed, and to a degree, compete with some very good people that already, after a week, I look up to in a lot of ways…

By Courage and Arms! Hua!

(They all get it.)

Serious Business

I have this creeping suspicion that I should provide a sort of disclaimer, a warning perhaps to any grizzled old law enforcement officer who might be tempted to read further: “Please beware as the potential for gratuitous, youthful, even starry-eyed optimism may lie ahead.” Consider yourselves warned.

For the last few weeks it seems like I’ve been having a good many conversations about becoming a sheriff’s deputy. “That’s great!” some have said; and others have reacted with a bit more reservation when I tell them what I’m going to be doing for the next few decades of my life. “Why?” has increasingly been the question of the day.

“You know…it’ll be engaging and exciting. I might even be good at it, and you know…it really is a pretty important job…,” goes my response usually.

Yeah. I know. That last part…

Ever since I uttered it there was a felt sense of inadequacy. It seemed that there was always something missing, something more, some vast depth to the words (and the thought behind the words) that I was only touching the surface of like a breeze skimming the surface of a deep, dark lake. In the back of my mind it felt as if I were saying something (mumbling something) as an afterthought which should have been prominent, should have been shouted and proclaimed with the fervor of a Sunday morning preacher.

I was exposed to a lot today, a lot of ‘new’ and a lot of ‘exciting’ – but beyond the glimpses of arrest control classes and firearms training; beyond the briefs of law instruction and policy training; even beyond the animal-like glares that we received from the inmates in the maximum security wing of the detention center – beyond all this I was left with the ability to answer that ever-present “why” question to my own and to everyone else’s satisfaction. And it all came together as I listened to one of our coordinators.

Deputy Johnson speaks to this “why” every time he looks you in the eye, every time he launches into one of his talks centered around some variation of the “take this SERIOUS, people!” theme. I saw that Sunday morning preacher speaking today, pointing directly with an unwavering finger to that little “why” question in each of our hearts as we sat listening with wide, unblinking eyes.

“This is serious business…,” I kept thinking to myself. “Wow….this is serious.” “I think this is SERIOUS!”

Deputy Johnson’s bullet hit its mark.

Whenever that “why” question is asked of me from this point forward there won’t be any mumbling and there won’t be any hesitation. There won’t even be an explanation given, no long and intellectualized justification touching on themes of law and order, protection and service, freedom and security, rights and responsibilities; life and death even – themes which are legitimate and themes which law enforcement personnel confront with every buzz of the bedside alarm clock. Of course all of those things will be on my mind, and in my heart but none of it will be spoken aloud, none of it articulated. My questioner will simply hear perhaps an audible increase in volume and tone, and perhaps a bit of that preacher I mentioned earlier when I respond to his “Why? Why get into law enforcement, why be a cop?!?” with a smile:

“It’s serious business. It is, perhaps, the most serious of ALL businesses. That’s why.”