Police Academy: Weeks 16 & 17
Week 16 consisted of Survival Spanish.
Week 17
Monday was supposed to be a defensive tactics review day. I wasn't looking forward to it and was relieved to find out we were doing the Precision Immobilization Tecnique (PIT) maneuver instead. After a classroom instruction block including some videos, we took the EVOC cars over to the track. Sgt. Parrott demonstrated the maneuver a couple of times for us, and then it was our turn.
We each PITed at least once from each side before lunch. After lunch we did the same except on a curve. Afterwards we learned how to box in a car in order to stop it.Tuesday was supposed to be Hazardous Materials, but instead we had a class on how to use our protective masks. We learned some things about the masks, and then tested them for a good fit. This all took a couple of hours. The rest of the day we did nothing. Well, we studied our radio signals and codes, but had nothing else to do, due to a lack of instructors.Wednesday was Bombs and Explosives as well as WMDs. It sounds like it would be a whole lot of fun, but actually was pretty dry. We learned how to respond to such events, but not how to make them. I guess I could always Google it if I really wanted to know.Thursday and Friday was the first half of our RADAR certification. We need 16 more hours of practicing with the RADAR in the field before we are certified to use it for traffic stops. Part of the training requires you to be able to estimate a car's speed within five miles per hour. It sounds a lot harder than it is.
Police Academy: Week 15
Officer Survival Week
Monday: Defensive Tactics for Officer Survival
Monday was basically a review of defensive tactics week. We practiced compliant and resistive handcuffing, searching, and frisking. If we did anything else that day I don't remember.
Tuesday: Traffic Stops
We took the academy's police cars down the road to the Jim Miller park to practice pulling people over. It may not seem like a big deal, but just pulling over my classmates was pretty intimidating. You flip on the blue lights and siren and your heart automatically starts beating faster, your adrenaline starts pumping, and your tongue forgets how to function properly. But after a few tries all went smoothly. We practiced "routine" traffic stops and felony traffic stops. We also got to practice our radio traffic. The department uses signals and codes when talking on the radio, so it was a little reassuring using them during the scenarios.
Wednesday: Building Clearing
We practiced clearing buildings for burglars all day. We had done building clearings for active shooter situations a couple of weeks ago, but clearing a building for burglars is a different animal. In active shooter situations we clear buildings quickly, moving in the open, and not caring about how much noise we make. When clearing for a burglar, who is generally not a real threat to anybody, we take our time and do it quietly. We learned how to enter rooms so as to see but not be seen, and practiced in the training center, the fire department classroom, and the smoke tower.
Thursday & Friday: Officer Survival Scenarios
We spent all day Thursday and half of Friday at the
Friday Evening: Active Shooter
After dinner we gathered at the driving course for a briefing on the active shooter scenario. We were given GLOCK pistols just like our regular ones, except they shoot paint balls. Three of the instructors children showed up to play dead kids; they had makeup and fake blood on them and everything. I was in the first group to go. We had a five man team, I was a left or right flanker, depending on the direction we were going. The situation was described as an active shooter situation at a family clinic. There was an off duty officer shot and killed as well as many children. Two or three shooters were inside. We had to drive to the academy from the driving course. When we arrived we were met by an officer who was already on the scene. There was a dead officer and little girl on the front steps of the building. As we entered the building a bomb went off somewhere outside that shook the whole building. Inside the front door there were two dead boys, the lights were all out, the fire alarms were going off, and lights were flashing. As we went down one hall we saw a person at the end get shot two or three times. The shooter then came around the corner with his hands behind his back. Three of us got down and commanded him to show his hands. When he finally did show his hands there was a gun in it, and a bullet flying towards us. Luckily, it missed, but we didn't. We continued to clear the rest of the rooms in the building while the second team showed up to help. They took fire from two other shooters before the scenario ended.
It was such an awesome training experience. All of the people who have prior law enforcement said that he'd never had training like that before. After the other two teams went we cleaned up the building and headed home.
Police Academy: Week 6
On Monday we finished up our time on the range. We had all qualified on the state course, but we had to qualify on the Cobb County course as well. As with everything else so far, the Cobb County course was much more difficult than the state course. We had to shoot while moving, transition from a baton to the firearm and shoot, and shoot with our left hand only. I ended up scoring a 95.6%. We also practiced with our secondary firearm on Monday as well. We carry a secondary either hidden under the shirt or on the ankle.
Tuesday was taken up in the classroom talking about mental illness: the different kinds of illnesses we'll come across both in children and adults, how to talk to someone who is mentally ill, and what to do with them if they are a problem. The lieutenant that taught the class was very amusing and made the class go by quickly; which was a bad thing. With nothing left to do for the day we hit the physical training (PT) room. Having not done any PT in two weeks, we knew they were going to make up for lost time. I was doing great until we did the alligator crawl. The gator crawl is like a pushup and a lunge at the same time; we do this back and forth across the room. By the end of the third time across the room people are screaming because of the pain. During my senior year in high school I tore the quadriceps muscle in my left leg. It hasn't given me any problems until the gator crawl on this day. I quietly ignored the pain as long as I could, but it didn't take long before I couldn't ignore it anymore. I ended up taking a lot of medicine, icing, and wrapping my leg for the rest of the week.
Wednesday was all about the ASP Baton. We spent a couple of minutes in the classroom going over target and non-target areas of the body to strike, the different kind of strikes, and other things we'll need to know for the test. 
The rest of the day was spent practicing the different strikes. By midday, everyone was complaining about their shoulders and arms hurting. Since I had so much medicine in me for my leg, I was oblivious to the pain that would come in my shoulder and arm.
Thursday and Friday were spent learning verbal judo. As one instructor told us early on, "Verbal judo is telling someone to go to hell, and having them look forward to the trip." Verbal judo is all about communicating correctly. We talked about the eight step process of making a traffic stop, and the five step process of getting compliance by simply talking. Though dry at times, the two day course was very important and helpful. We did PT again on Thursday, but it wasn't as bad as Tuesday's. We leave at 3:00 on Fridays since we come in an hour early on Mondays, so there was no PT to suffer through on Friday.
Yesterday, Michelle and I went to the Silver Comet Trail for some recreational bicycling. The trail is part of the Rails to Trails project, which converts old railroad tracks into biking/running/walking paths. The Silver Comet Trail, named for the train that used the track most often, is a 60 mile trail that goes from Cobb County to the Georgia-Alabama line. We did a 10 mile round trip, having lunch halfway in Powder Springs.