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.

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 luxurious Wynhaven Apartments right down the road from the academy. As we pulled into the apartments there were about 10-15 Mexican men sitting at the entrance, five of whom took off in a dead sprint. (We were all in police cars, by the way.) We were actually fortunate to practice in these apartments. Though the buildings we used were condemned, there were still squatters living there. We got a lot of good training while we were there.

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.

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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.

I had taken some pictures of him a little while ago so here they are. *Note: He’s making these faces, he doesn’t actually look that stupid in real life.

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.

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.

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 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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This week seemed to fly by, but each day seemed to last a lifetime. We spent all week in the padded room known as the “Thunder Dome” doing defensive tactics (DT). Last week we learned what it takes to Constitutionally detain a person to perform a pat down or a frisk; on Monday, we learned how to actually do a pat down. After frisks, we learned how to handcuff a compliant person. Next came handcuffing a non-compliant person. Handcuffing seems simple enough, but it’s actually a seven step process. It isn’t very difficult to handcuff a person, but it hurts like hell to be handcuffed over and over again. When I got home Monday night my wrists were cut, swollen, and bruised.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent learning different holds and take downs. The greatest aspect of the moves that we learned is that they don’t require a lot of strength. The holds and take downs allow me to defend myself against a much larger and stronger person. On Wednesday I was repeatedly thrown on my right thigh resulting in a huge bruise. I was going to put a picture of it on here, but decided against it.

I had more fun yesterday than I’ve had in the past eight weeks. Up until lunch we worked on different kinds of strikes. After lunch we fine tuned our skills and then held boxing matches. I’ve never been in a fight, so boxing was pretty intimidating until I got hit the first time. We were only fighting at 25% strength, but it was still pretty shocking to get hit in the head. What was more shocking was that I was pretty good. I actually gave one of the guys I boxed a bloody nose (it wasn’t bad, just a little blood). I went home Thursday very sore, but full of energy and hope.

I had been dreading today all week. It started out OK; we learned how to escape and overtake someone when we are pinned to the ground. But after lunch we had to take on the instructors while they are dressed in the red man suit (see picture). Any person who puts on the red man suit is pretty intimidating, but when the person inside the suit is six feet tall and 230 pounds of pure muscle, it’s terrifying. The instructor wasn’t trying to take us down or hurt us, but they weren’t above hitting and charging. When we would get a couple of good hits on them they would take a knee, but then the fight was on again. The whole thing only lasted one minute, but it was the longest minute of my life. Even with an ASP baton in hand, I felt defenseless against the giant who wasn’t even trying to hurt me.

Overall, the week was painful but incredibly important. I feel confident now knowing that I don’t have to be the California governor to defend myself on the street. Unfortunately, we only received 40 hours of training in something that will take months to perfect.

Having never really shot a gun before, I was surprised by the power of such a small machine. I was also surprised that I was an all right shot to begin with. As the week progressed I got much better, as was expected. Our entire class qualified by Thursday morning, which is a first for the academy. Normally there are one or two people who are still trying to qualify on Friday afternoon.

This week wasn’t very physically demanding — though we did run and do a lot of push ups — but being out in the sun all day really puts a beating on your body. I still haven’t recuperated. We’re back on the range tomorrow, and I’m not sure what the rest of the week holds for us.

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