Week 1 FTO

Well, I graduated. Now I have 12 weeks of field training (FTO). I started last Tuesday. I am working 3rd shift (5 p.m. - 3 a.m.). My FTO (field training officer) is pretty cool. He is very laid back and doesn't yell. Our first call of my first day was to a suspicious character. When we pulled up we found a car with 3 occupants sitting along side the road. The front passenger got out of the car and began to run from the other officer on scene. The car then began to leave. We blocked the road and the car stopped. My FTO said "go check on the other officer". So I took off running in the fresh snow. By the time I got to the other officer, she had the guy in custody. Then I went back to check on my FTO. He had the driver out of the car. I got to take the back passenger into custody since she was a female. We found marijuana on the driver and in the car. We ended up arresting the driver because he also had a warrant. The rest of the calls were babysitting the people down in Plainview. I was sent to a shots fired call because they had 3 females that needed searched. There doesn't seem to be many females out east so I will probably become a professional at searching. One day last week I also got to search a CI (confidential informant). This is an actual strip search. Believe me, it wasn't the funnest thing to do. I worked a juvenile shoplift, quite a few domestic violence reports, a runaway, and have done a few traffic stops. This week I work Tuesday and Wednesday and get Thursday and Friday off. Then, Saturday I start phase 2. I'll be working 4th shift (9pm - 7 a.m.) with Wed, Thurs, Fri. off. I'll be in this phase for 4 weeks.

I have uploaded all the photos from graduation to my Picasa online photo album. You can get to them by clicking My Photos under my Favorite Links to the right. If anyone has any good photos please e-mail them to me at tgrimes@cox.net. I really don't think I have one good photo of Justin and I where we are both looking in the same direction. I'd like to get a good one to frame.

2 Days Left

It's been a pretty fun week so far. Things at the academy have been pretty laid back. Tuesday we took our group photos. Below is the WPD photo. I am on the 3rd row, 3rd from the left. I think they found the worst picture that they took and printed it. Then Deputy Chief Moses came in and taught racial profiling and we had a brief review of our city government. Then we went downtown and took our individual photo. Then today we had our final PT assessment. I did 48 sit-ups (in one minute). I did 41 in my initial assessment on day 1. I did 40 push ups. I did 21 on day 1. Since we had some crappy weather move in yesterday, we didn't have to do the cooper run (1 1/2 miles) and we didn't have to do the 300 yd dash. Then, we had our Chaplin and shrinks in. WE had our final exam. I got a 92%. Then in the evening, our families (mom and dad came) showed up for an Emotional Stress seminar. The main topic was officer suicide. Mom and dad got to tour the facility. Not that it is too exciting. It is pretty much an old elementary school.

Below is some info regarding graduation. Basically directions to the parking lots on campus that we can use.

Graduation Week - 4 days to go

Just wanted to update you on my FTO schedule. My first 2 weeks I will be on 3rd shift with Sat., Sun., and Mon's off. This means that I will be working Christmas Eve and Christmas. Then I switch to Phase 2. I will be on 4th shift for 4 weeks with Wed., Thurs., and Friday's off. That means I get New Years Eve and New Years off. Then, in Phase 3 I will spend 4 weeks on 1st shift with Sun., Mon., and Tues. off. Then, I will go back to 3rd for my final 2 weeks for my final phase of FTO. Here is a picture of Justin and I that I took this morning before we headed to class.

End of Week 22

Well, one week left. This next week is mostly administrative stuff to finish up the academy. We get to start wearing our tan uniforms on Monday. As for last week, Thursday we had Juvenile Intervention. We also had our blood drive for the battle of the badges. Then that night, Justin and I went into Hutchinson to watch Paige in her 3rd grade Christmas program. It was really cool. I hadn't been to anything like that since I was in 3rd grade and I had never been on the audience side before. I actually had a lot of fun. Then on Friday we spent the day at the range doing our tactical shooting. Since there were 33 of us out there we didn't get a lot in. We did get to shoot the tazer at an actual target. One of the range masters put on a suit and acted out a scenario. I was the one that got to deploy the tazer. We did more shooting from the ground and shooting if you are disabled. We did some drills where we shot, reloaded, and pulled the gun out of the holster with only one hand. Then, Friday night, the Sheriff's department group took their Sgt. and FTD out to dinner. It was cool hanging out with those guys. Their Sgt and FTD are really cool. On Saturday we had our class party. We went out to Blank's house that is a few miles south of Augusta. For the most part, the usual people showed up. There were a few people that showed up that surprised me. I think we all had a good time. Here are a few pictures. The first pic is and and Smith. The second one is me and Maxfield. The last one is me and Weidner.

Middle of week 22

Well, since I have lots of stuff to talk about, I decided to blog early this week (and mom was bitching about me not telling her about getting tazed). So, Monday we had our tazer training. I made sure I jumped in when they did the group one. Basically there were 3 of us. They hooked one probe (alligator clip) to my right hip. Then they hooked a clip to Richardson's left hip. Weidner was in the middle and we all held hands. We told him we only wanted to take a second. He hit the button and everyone said it sounded like choir practice. I felt most of the pain in my left arm. I just remember grabbing Weidner's hand with my right and trying to get her to let go of me. I don't know how many of you have accidentally been shocked by an electrical pug, but it feels like that but you don't let go. We only did a 1 second ride, but it felt like 10. Advice: if you ever get a Tazer aimed at you, comply!

Today we had our defensive tactics review. Basically we reviewed everything that we have done all 22 weeks in 8 hours. I feel like it got ran over by a truck. Also today, Deputy Chief Lee came in and gave us our assignments. I am going East. The basic boundaries for east side are...North boundaries: 13th to Rock, then up to 29th. East boundaries: city limits to the Butler county line. South boundaries: City limits over to 135. West Boundaries: 135 up to Kellogg then over to Hydraulic. Yes, we have Plainview. Little interesting info...there have been 3 officer involved shootings while we were in the academy. One was out west where an officer got shot. The other 2 were out east. No officers were shot in those...2 were pepper sprayed. I should know my FTO schedule by Thursday of next week.

Justin got his badge today. So, next Monday we are all wearing our regular uniforms to the academy. maybe I'll figure out how to use the timer on my camera and get a picture of us.

End of Week 21

We had a short week this week. On Monday we did our mock trial. Judge Paul Clark was our judge. I am pretty sure the guy has been doing this for 100 years. I didn't get to testify (not real heart broken). On Tuesday we had our 11th test. I got an 89%. Then we had Career Development, Racial Profiling, and EJustice (records software). Then Tuesday night, a bunch of us got together and had a game night. It was tons of fun. Then Wednesday, I worked from 4pm - 12:30 am. The first 4 hours I spent at the Jail. The first hour or so I got to roam around with a rover. We went into a few of the pods. I went into one of the pods where the Deputy sits right out there with the inmates. I could never do that. Then I spent the last 3 hours in Master Control. This is where they control all the doors, elevators, and all access points. I was down there for about 30 minutes when they had an incident in the pod I was just in. I guess they couldn't get one of the inmates to go to his cell. I am not sure of all the details, but the guy I spent the 1st hour with called down to master control and told me that the incident in that pod was all my fault. Not sure of all the details, but the guy ended up getting 5 days lock down for the incident. For the next 4 hours I was up in dispatch. I ended up spending the night with the EMS dispatcher. It was pretty interesting. It was interesting to see how you get one call from 911 and EMS, Fire, and PD all get dispatched. The room gets pretty crazy when something big comes in.

Then on Thursday (Thanksgiving), I went with Justin to Hutchinson to be with his family. He had warned me about his crazy family, but I really didn't think it was any different than any other family. Here is a picture of us that Justin's daughter Paige took.

We were pretty lazy the rest of the weekend. Thursday night we set up the x-mas tree. Friday went to see Four Christmases with some of our friends from the academy. Then on Saturday I drug Justin to the Arts and Crafts Fair at Century II. We got some new x-mas ornaments. Then that night we went cosmic bowling with Rebecca and her family. Then Sunday we just did some chores around the house.

We have 2 weeks left of the academy. This week is going to be pretty fun. I got tazed today. We have a full day of defensive tactics on Wednesday. On Thursday we have the blood drive for the battle of the badges. We have tactical handgun on Friday. Friday the sheriff's department is taking their instructors to dinner so I get to tag along to that. Then Saturday is our class party. But you will have to wait till next blog for all of that.