Academy Update

First, I need to insert my foot into my mouth. I said posts would be more frequent, however, I lied. I do get an hour for lunch, but I use the time left over from when I’m not stuffing food into my face to do classwork/homework. Cellphones are prohibited in the classroom, so it’s hard to blog on the cellphone if it’s left locked in my car.

Anyway, my schedule is as follows (lots of rough estimates, so be warned):

• 4:30 a.m. – roll out of bed
• ~5:40 a.m. – Leave house
• ~6:30 a.m. – Arrive at Academy
• 6:45 a.m. – In formation in parking lot to be inspected. If someone fails inspection, we do push ups, number depending on how bad they fail inspection.
• ~7:00 a.m. – Back in Classroom, begin instruction
• ~11:00 a.m. – Lunch
• ~12:00 p.m. – End Lunch, resume instruction
• ~5:00 p.m. – ~5:30 p.m. – End Class. End time is dependent on how much we get covered during the day.
• ~5:45 p.m. – ~6:00 p.m. – Home

Then I have to eat, do homework, read, polish my boots, press my uniform for the next day, and shower. Hopefully in bed by 10 p.m.

Homework consists of re-writing the rough notes into final notes and reading the information handouts if we didn’t cover something in class. Tomorrow (19th) we have our first test over history of policing. Thursday we have our second test over Professional Policing. Next week, we have 3 tests.

Quite literally, I don’t get much free time from academy work. There is always that next thing to be done, to get ready, etc. I’m cutting into my sleep time to make sure yall have an update, so maybe I don’t feel quite so bad for realizing I haven’t given yall an update.

History of Policing was meh. Most of the information covered was about England, and how we adapted our early systems of policing from them. We discussed early L.E. in Texas, and how it’s changed over the years. When TCLEOSE was founded in 1965, the Texas Legislature didn’t give them any funding, so they were inactive until 1967, when they were finally given funding.

Today (18th), we covered Professional Policing and got a little bit into Professionalism and Ethics. Professional Policing covered the newest style of policing, Community Policing. Basically, the citizens and the P.D. are supposed to work together to help cut down on crime. The citizens are given more input into how the P.D. is supposed to be run. In that style of policing, cops are considered “Community Peace Officers”, and are customer service oriented.

The part of Ethics we covered today was fun, because we got into the police sub-culture. Police Culture is healthy, sub-culture is negative. Sub-culture is where cops lose faith in humanity and sink more into the “police only understand police” mentality. Some cops slide into this sub-culture because of the stresses of the job. We saw a very graphic video today, from a suicidal cop blowing his brains out, a 6-year-old girl dying from a gunshot wound (on camera too), to policemen taking a report on a child rape case, and all parts in between. Why show us this? To give us a taste of what it will be like for us. Sure, as the Instructor said, we won’t see that kind of stuff day-to-day, week to week, or even month to month, but it is stuff we will have to deal with. That kind of stuff stays with an officer, keeps them up at night, and gives them nightmares. If not handled properly, that kind of stuff builds up, hardens an officer, and that officer slides into the sub-culture. If handled properly, that officer will maintain a healthy relationship with everyone and continue to be a fine officer.

Also a part of ethics, we covered morality, character, and integrity. We will be getting into this a lot more tomorrow during class.

And, in great news, I did receive a job offer today! To be…

…a Constable!

Not exactly my dream job, but constable positions pay a lot due to the massive O.T. they get, and the department is willing to pay for the rest of my gear for the academy. No paycheck during the academy, but it is something gear wise, since I need all my duty gear, a pistol, and ammunition. Constables work for a judge and do the judge’s L.E. work for them, like serving warrants, delivering writs, and other civil service stuff. It’s a lot of leg work, sitting through court proceedings, with little traffic and other enforcement. Sure, I would be able to enforce traffic laws, however, you’d have to screw up really badly traffic wise to be pulled over by a constable. It’d be a great way to start off my career, since it’d give me experience in the court side of things. Not much room for advancement, however, it’s a guaranteed job out of the academy.

For those wondering, my pistol would be a standard DA/SA Sig P220R in .45 ACP. If hired, I would be required to shoot and use their pistol not only on duty, but during the Academy as well. I could not buy and use a S&W M&P or other pistol instead. P220 is it. I have no say in the matter, which is normal for departments who issues pistols. Sure, some will allow you to buy off a list or buy it and get it approved, but most aren’t. You shoot what they give you to shoot, and that’s that.

I have 3 weeks to give them notice of my acceptance or denial, so it’ll be time to think.

Even though we haven’t gotten into the penal code and Criminal Code and Procedures yet, so far, I’m excited to start each day. Hopefully I’ll continue to be excited so it’ll make the time go by quicker.

Graduation (when I pass everything Academy wise and pass the TCLEOSE test) will be November 4th. According to the schedule, it’s 25 weeks long.

I’m so ready!