Update!!!

It’s been a while since i’ve last posted but I wanted to share what i’ve been up to.  The last 4 weeks have been filled with lectures, tests, and firearms.  Our lectures have been great and i’ve learned a lot.  I would say that my biggest frustration with the academy is that we cover so much material, I would love nothing more than to dig deeper in some of the topics that we cover but time just doesn’t allow us to.  A couple weeks ago, an instructor covered interrogation and it was very interesting.  I would have loved to spend a few days on that topic and even get home and take time to read articles that apply but the reality is that we also covered other topics on that day.  After a 12 hour day and having to study other material, eat dinner, shower, have a little family time, it just isn’t gonna happen.  This has been my story for the summer.  None the less, the academy has been great.  

A lot of people have asked me if i’ve enjoyed it and my answer is always, “It has been great.”  That’s the truth, it has been going great.  I’ve learned a lot, I’ve made some good friends, and I’ve been able to learn under some seasoned instructors, but, it has also been stressful and tiring.  

I know, the job will be long hours and the stress is just part of it, but I feel like it’s different.  For me, at this point, the stress of knowing that if I don’t pass, I don’t get P.O.S.T. certified and if I don’t get P.O.S.T. certified, I don’t have a job.  When that crosses my mind, I think about my family, my wife, my kids, there’s a lot riding on me passing the academy.  I quickly push that out of my mind and just know that I’m gonna pass.  I know that this is where I’m suppose to be.  I don’t believe that things just happen.  Vail P.D. is where I am suppose to be and I can’t wait to get there.   

As far as the academy goes, i’ve been doing well.  We just finished firearms, the 3rd and final skills portion of the academy and yes, I passed.  We had two tests for firearms, the practical shooting skills test and the written test.  Everybody in our class passed the shooting portion but I was especially pumped on Friday afternoon when we  all received our firearms written test back and I had the high score in the class.  I ended up with a 97.5% and only missed one.  I was a little frustrated because the one answer that I missed, was originally correct but I changed it at the last minute.  Oh well, all that matters is that I passed and now I can just start focusing on the final P.O.S.T. test.  

Anyways, I have a lot to say but i’ll save it for next time.  I’m less than one month away from making the drive up to Vail and I’m excited.  I have met most of the officers that i’ll be working with and I can’t wait to learn from them.  

Until next time, take care!!!

Red Man Fight!!!

So here is a fun video of me fighting in the red man outfit.  If you've never put on a red man outfit, but, believe it or not, it's actually is pretty difficult to move around in.  You feel like the Michelin Man.  You're not as quick, your not as flexible and you can't really get much power behind your kicks and punches.  Nobody really looks like a fighter because let's be honest, you're wearing a big red outfit and everthing that you do is slowed down.  The red man outfit is pretty restrictive and when you get kicked by the guy you're fighting, it doesn't really hurt.  You know they kicked you because you feel the impact but nothing really takes you down for the count.  We actually weren't even allowed to punch in the face.  You may be asking yourself, "Than why do we get into the red man outfit?"

We'll the point of this excercise was to get our heart rate up to max capacity.  Going all out for 60 seconds tires you out.  You reach that red zone and at the end of the fight, we have to walk over to somebody and handcuff them.  Wearing the red man outfit adds weight and restricts your movement so after kicking and punching for one minute, you can believe that you're sucking air.  Everything that we've been learning has had a purpose behind it.  It was a good brawl and at the end of my minute, I finished the job by handcuffing one of my classmates. 

I had fun doing this so I hope you enjoy this video.

atching this video. 

PPCT

Just wanted to try something a little different since PPCT is over.  Last week was a long week but everything went well.  Thanks a lot and see you soon!!!

Taser Taser Taser!!!!

I woke up this morning, looked around and thought to myself, “Today is a great day to get tasered!”  Yes, it’s true, I was actually looking forward to getting tasered.  Maybe it was because I really didn’t know what awaited me, or maybe it was just because I knew it was coming so there was no point fighting it.  Either way, I was getting tasered and there was no way around it. 

This morning, we got to the classroom just like we always do.  The room looked the same, nothing that indicated today was taser day.  Sure we’ve known about this for a couple weeks and most of us were excited, nervous but mainly excited......at least I was.  

We started out with a lecture on what exactly the taser does.  We talked about the different situations in which an officer would use a taser.  We asked lots of questions and even watched videos on how effective the taser is when used.  

A question that we asked in class was one that maybe all of you might be asking, “Can you die from being tasered?”  Most of us have been shocked either touching an outlet, the battery in your car or something else.  Whatever the case, you probably remember when you were shocked.  As we learned today, it’s not necessarily the voltage that runs through your body, but the amps.  To put it in perspective, the average home wall outlet has about 15 amps, a Christmas tree lightbulb has about 1 amp, and the taser that police officers use carries about 0.0021.  The bottom line is that tasering is safe and this non-lethal weapon has saved many lives, including that of the potentially harmful subject. 

Thousands of volts going through your body forces every muscle to tighten and keeps you incapacitated.  As I was getting tasered, I could have swore that 5 seconds had passed, but the electricity kept coming.  I tensed up and I could feel the electricity running through my body.  I tried to stand up, but couldn’t.  I tried to stand up and get away from that freaky sound of voltage, but I couldn’t.  My back and my legs just wouldn’t let me move.  I couldn’t hear anything except the sound of my voice grunting and the voltage running up and down my spine which was more powerful than I was.  I knew it would eventually end but these five seconds would feel like an eternity.  Does it hurt?  Well it doesn’t feel good.  Yes, 50,000 volts is what the taser contains but in reality, by the time the probes make contact with your body, it’s 1,200 volts, much less  than the 50,000, but still more than enough to keep you down for the fight.   

Yes, it was funny watching my classmates going through the same pain that I had just experienced.  Most would think that you have to have some weird/sick sense of humor to find this funny, but we were all highly encouraged to get taserd.  

The reality is that as soon to be police officers, we should know what this feels like and how it effects the body.  This helps you to understand when it may or may not be necessary.  We’ll, today was a good day and i’m looking forward to getting some well deserved rest and relaxation this weekend.  

Hope you guys enjoy this video and hope that my pain and the longest five seconds of my life, make you smile.  Thanks for taking some time to read this blog on my journey through the police academy. 

Arrest Control

It’s Saturday night and I’m just sitting at home relaxing.......finally.  I will tell you that I just finished studying for another test that we’re taking on Tuesday on Preliminary Investigation.  The academy has been very busy and I’ve been learning a lot.  My days are starting to run together; between school and studying, I haven’t had much of a break.  

I thought I would be learning a lot about law enforcement, and I have, but what I didn’t anticipate, was how much I would be learning about myself.  I’m 33 years old, so I’m old enough to know my strengths and weaknesses, but being at the academy has brought those to light even more.  I’ve heard from multiple instructors at the academy that once you get to the department, everybody will have strengths and weaknesses so reach out to each other and work as a team.  I’ve begun practicing that in the academy, and in my areas of weakness, I’ve reached out to my classmates.   

The next 3 weeks will focus on PPCT.  The arrest control portion of the academy is what most of us have been looking forward to... I know I have.  Let’s be honest, if you had your choice of being stuck in a classroom or being in the gym learning some cool arrest tactics, what would you prefer?  

We spent a few days throwing each other on the ground, hitting pressure points, falling, twisting joints, and putting our bodies through painful maneuvers.  It’s been really fun, but it’s also pretty painful.  I am definitely sore.  Unfortunately, we had one student suffer from a possible hand fracture during one of the sessions.  I’ve been really excited for this section of the class, but I honestly wasn’t anticipating how rigorous it would be academically.  This week has been the most academically challenging week for me, and for the rest of the class.  It’s required a lot of studying and homework.  And while arrest control is challenging and fun, I think we are all sober to the fact that this portion of the academy is very necessary and extremely important.  In some cases, it could save our lives. 

One final note, next Friday is T-Day......as in Taser Day and I’m ready to get it.  Stay tuned and you might get a video of me in extreme pain.  

Alright!!!! We’re starting to get out of the classroom and into the hands-on portion of the Academy.  Yesterday we had our intro into the driving portion of the Academy and today we started the fast driving maneuvers.  After vehicle inspections, choosing a partner and setting up the the course, we got into our vehicles and started driving.  Today we had 3 tests.  The first test was driving 45mph and stopping within 70 feet; the second test was a Brake & Evade; and the third test was a Multiple Brake and Evade test.  Definitely fun and we did our fair share of screeching tires and running over countless orange cones.   

As fun as this was and is–and trust me, it is fun–I never lost sight of the fact that these are lifesaving skills that I will use on a regular basis.  At the end of the day, it’s a test that we are scored on, and I am constantly aware of that fact.  We are scored on all the routes, totaling 15 different driving tests that we must pass.  I was happy with my scores today.  Tomorrow we’re heading out to the airport where we’ll be doing some really fast driving and ultimately a mock police pursuit.  I’ll try and post some pics of what we’re doing.  

Here’s a quick little video of some of the action....

More videos coming soon.......

Fitness Test

Fitness Test

This week, we started our second week in the academy and we’re definitely getting into the thick of it.  Just after a week of being together, we’re becoming a cohesive team and getting to know each other more.  We’re beginning to see each other’s strengths and I’m sure as the weeks continue, our trust in each other will grow.    

I’ve been anticipating our first fitness test since last week.  Today, we had an officer from Snowmass Village Police Department come and talk to us about the physical demands of the job, as obviously, physical conditioning plays a huge role. I was excited and a little anxious because I knew that today we’d be doing our physical testing.  This test was more of a gauge of where we stand in our physical condition and strength.  We had four basic tests.  First, we were tested on our grip strength: highly important since we’ll have to be holding onto suspects.  Second, an all-out pushup test–this test was not timed and we had to do as many pushups as possible.  The key factor was that as soon as you stopped, even for a second, you’re done.  The pushups had to be continuous and you had to go down to about 3 inches from the ground.  The third test was to see how many sit-ups you could do in one minute.  The fourth and final test was a 300 yard run.  

I was happy with my results, but I know that as the academy progresses, I will get stronger and faster.   I’ve always been competitive so I obviously want to out squeeze, out pushup, out sit-up, and out run the rest of my class.  I also would like to just set a personal goal for myself.  A little friendly competition within classmates... it’s just part of the fun. 

I think at the end of the day, everybody did a great job and I’m glad to be a part of this team.  We all worked hard, pushed ourselves and one girl even threw up–so that’s gotta say something!!!    

As the week continues, the stress of the academy builds, my excitement grows and I am trying to learn as much as I can.

Oh yeah... for the record, I maxed out my pushups at 53 and did 53 sit up in one minute.  As for the run, they clocked me at 52.36, the group decided to round up......53 all around!!!

Talk to ya soon.

Ben