Monday and Tuesday were supposed to be about handling domestic disputes and violence, but they haven’t been following the schedule much anyway. Instead, we drove to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department’s range on Monday so that we could learn how to use shotguns. It was almost intimidating at first, but once they told us everything there is to know about them it wasn’t so bad. It was a lot of fun shooting the shotguns and using the different types of ammunition. It was a lot easier to shoot a shotgun compared to a handgun as well. We won’t get a rifle course while we’re in academy, but we can come back for one afterwards. At each precinct they have rifles and shotguns that we check out before our shift. The L.A. bank robbers wouldn’t have gotten very far in Cobb County.

Tuesday was a classroom day learning about judgmental use of force. It was one of those boring things that the state required us to do, so we took turns reading out loud. The instructor broke up the boredom by bringing in different types of weapons and showing us how to clear them. During the day the newly appointed grand jury stopped by the academy to see were all of the police train. They seemed excited to be able to get a behind the scenes look into it. We gave them some defensive tactics demonstrations, and they asked us questions about the academy.

The rest of the week we played video games. Well, we sort of played video games. The academy has a driving simulator, complete with a Crown Victoria interior and three monitors being the windshield and side windows. It was a lot of fun but it gave me a headache to look out the side windows.

The best “video game” is a system known as the Professional Range Instruction Simulator (PRISim). It was extremely realistic. It can be used in place of a range, or to run scenarios like we did. The images on the screen are actual people, not computer generated. There are several different scenarios and each one has several different outcomes. If the person on the screen has a gun, then you can literally get shot by the shoot-back cannon. I came close to getting shot once; I didn’t make that mistake again. The tools we use in the PRISim room are just like the ones we use on the road. The gun is a modified GLOCK 22 which when fired, acts like a real gun. We also have a can of OC (pepper spray) that work the same way. If the scenario on the screen takes place at night, then we are given a flashlight which “lights up” the screen wherever we point the flashlight. It’s a great training tool.

On Friday we combined all of our training thus far. You start with a high speed pursuit in the driving simulator. The person hops out of the car and you run out of the room to chase him. One of the other guys in the class acts as your beat partner. He runs along side you as he’s telling you where the bad guy is going. After running around outside for a little while, your beat partner leads you into the PT room. Once in the PT room you battle one of the instructors in the red man suit. After beating the crap out of the red man, your beat partner leads you into the PRISim room to finally confront the man you pursued. Once there you have to order him to get on the ground and arrest him. It was the most exhausting five minutes of my life, but it was more fun than anything we’ve done so far.

We’re half way through with academy. The days here drag by, but I’m always surprised when the weekend comes. If the second half goes by as fast as the first half has, I’ll be out on the road in no time.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we learned about Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFST). We learned what to look for to tell if someone is drunk, how they’ll drive, and we then certified on administering the different SFST. The three tests that we’ll be giving on the side of the road include horizontal gaze nystagmus, walk and turn, and one-leg stand. Horizontal gaze nystagmus works every time with everyone who has been drinking. Nystagmus is an involuntary jerking of the eyes when looking to the side. If a person has been drinking and you have them follow your finger to one side and the other you can see the eyes jerk back and forth at the sides. We had to take a written test at the end of the course and then administer thethree SFST. I made a 100 on my written test and the instructor said that my administration of the three tests was the best by far.

Thursday and Friday were spent on the range again. We were scheduled to shoot at night so that we could learn to use the weapon mounted light or a flashlight while shooting,but they started tearing down the department’s range on Monday so they can build a bigger and better one. That left us with a couple of choices. We could use a neighboring department’s range, or we could use the indoor air conditioned range at the GLOCK factory during the day and just turn the lights off. Wisely, the range instructors chose to use the range at GLOCK. GLOCK is the manufacturer of the weapons t hat we carry, and since there are over 600 officers in the department who each carry two GLOCKS, and since all of the weapons are made right here in Cobb County, they let us use their range. We started qualifying after a short classroom demonstration on the different methods of using flashlights while shooting. I scored a 100 on my first try and a 98 on my second. From then on out for the rest of Thursday and Friday I shot 100s.

Shooting on the range is always a lot of fun. I’ve never been a big fan of guns, but it’s really fun to shoot them and do well at it. We’re going to be shooting shotguns pretty soon, and after that we’ll learn to use less than lethal guns. I’m really looking forward to the last half of academy.

Week 9:
Monday morning at 3:00 AM I was out of bed getting ready for work. We had to be there by 4:00 AM for NEVO (Non-Emergency Vehicle Operation). Part of the course required us to drive at night, so instead of staying late they let us come in early. This was great considering that we got to go home at noon. That night, Michelle and I rode our bikes into downtown Kennesaw to watch the fireworks. It was a lot of fun. The fourth was spent relaxing, and the rest of the week was pretty boring.

Week 10:
This week was spent mostly in the classroom. We learned about investigating, interviewing, interrogating, interpersonal communications, and terrorism. On Thursday when we were doing interpersonal communications, part of the lesson plan was to have us play some games. Half of the class played Uno and the other half played Aggravation. We had a great time playing games, and we were able to apply what we had learned about communicating as well.

Friday was our second physical fitness test. It was just a test to see how far we’ve come since the beginning. The day started with a mile and a half run while it was still “cool” out. Most of us were sweating before we even started to run. I finished with a time of 11 minutes and 30 seconds. I dropped two minutes off my previous time. We then did bench pressing (I added 30 pounds to my previous weight) and leg pressing (I improved, but I don’t know what the weight was). After that was the step test, where you step up and down off of a platform for one minute. I had highest score last time of 81 and continued to reign as champion with an improved score of 85. All that was left for the test were sit-ups, where I improved as well. All 12 of us had improved over our first test, and most of the improvements were major.

While we were cooling off in the classroom after the test, the academy lieutenant came in to talk to us. She’s normally a pretty serious person, but she walked in with a huge smile on her face. She told us that she had just seen our scores and that she was “so excited and giddy.” She told us several times how proud she was of all of us for our improvements. She also let us know that if we keep it up that we will be the best class that they’ve seen so far. Needless to say, we were all pretty excited to hear praise from the academy staff.

Before we broke for lunch I had to move a couple of computers around for the staff. They’ve been rearranging the offices this week, and none of them knew how to move the computers so I was assigned the task.

We all went out to lunch to celebrate Spiker’s 45th birthday, and finished off the day with a class on terrorism.

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