Police Academy: Week 13 & 14
Week 13
Week 13 was quite a week. Monday started off with a continuation of Friday's Active Shooter class. Before lunch we practiced clearing halls and classrooms in five men groups. I wasn't feeling very good and apparently it was obvious to the staff. They sent me home once lunch started. Whatever I had when away with plenty of rest.
On Tuesday we were back at the Douglas County range to do real building clearings. They have a house built out of railroad ties that we practiced in, then used live ammo. Apparently, CCPD either is crazy for letting us use live ammo, or they really trust us and our training. I prefer to think it's the latter. Major Banks was there with his video camera; he got some good footage. The head index that day was 105 degrees, and we were outside the whole time wearing gun belts and bullet resistant vests. As we were picking up all of the discharged shells, one of my teammates started feeling dizzy, so he laid down in the shade. I was driving him home in his Jeep when his back started cramping. I knew that was a sign of heat exhaustion, so I stopped at a doctors office that we were passing by. I took him in to get some immediate help, but they were unable to do much so we called for an ambulance. They started him on an IV and said he was severely dehydrated.
Wednesday we learned everything you could want to know about domestic violence and stalking. Detective Debbie Hollan from CCPD taught our class. She's known around the country for her work with domestic violence and stalking. She's the author of Georgia's stalking laws, and a self proclaimed bitch. That class was interesting though. Thursday we learned how to deal with and respond to domestic violence.
Friday we had three classes: burglary, evidence, and arson. The classes were interesting, but the most interesting thing that happened wasn't part of the schedule. The training center officers, sergeants, and lieutenant came in to brief us on a situation that was taking place in the other academy class. All we were told is that there was a problem with the class and we'd be further informed when they were authorized to do so. We were told not to talk to anybody from the other class or to anybody else if we knew what was going on.
Week 14
There was so much tension in the training center on Monday that it was hard to breathe. (Luckily we learned CPR that day.) The other class, known as Mandate Class 17, all looked as if they were on death row. No one talked, no one smiled, no one even raised their heads. We had heard through the grape vine that some of the class had cheated on a test. After the class ended we were told to hang around until the chief arrived to talk to us. We normally leave at 4:00, but the chief didn't arrive until 5:30. Chief Hatfield informed us that they had terminated Mandate 17. They fired all 20 of them after an internal investigation revealed they had all cheated on their tests. Those who "didn't cheat" did nothing about those who were cheating, and therefor were guilty as well. Doing nothing to stop an illegal act, for an officer at least, is just as bad as participating. There have been three articles in the Atlanta Journal Constitution so far about it.
Article 1 | Article 2 | Article 3
The rest of the week we learned everything about being a first responder. I can do CPR, splint a broken bone, and deliver a baby among other things. At the end of Friday we took a 100 question test; we all passed, and none of us cheated.