First week of final phase

Well, I've had 10 weeks of pretty much routine stuff. Nothing too crazy. I think I was saving it up for this week. I know it's hard to believe but I can't actually remember what I did the first few days. I know it was very nice out. I worked a couple of crazy accidents. It seems like nothing I roll up on can be routine. Then, Thurs night at approximately 2:30 a.m. (I get off at 3 am.) I was headed out out east because the Sgt. said he had a car going eastbound in the westbound lanes. I was northbound on Woodlawn coming up to Kellogg when I saw a car at a high rate of speed make the u-turn from WB Kellogg to EB Kellogg. So, I started to follow it. It ran the stop sign on Kellogg drive. Then I got behind it at Rock road where it ran the light there. The whole time I'm praying that this guy is not drunk. So, I lit him up and he kept going. It wasn't some crazy high speed chase. Our speeds were less than 25mph. He took the road that curves around behind the shopping center there. Then he pulled over a bailed.

My FTO got out first and started chasing him. Then after I got our car parked I jumped out. As I was taking off to help my FTO, I saw back up lights on the other car. Then I heard a crunch. So, I went back to where my FTO was and he had him tazered. I jumped the fence faster than I ever though I could. I jumped on him and put him in cuffs.

Then I found out that he might be the vehicle in another Hit and Run that other officers were working. So, a good night. We got a bad guy. I didn't get out of the station till 7 a.m.

I have 3 more days of FTO. My FTO has Friday off so my end of phase will be Thursday. Not sure what they are gong to do with me Friday. I'll probably ride as a 2 officer unit. Then, Saturday I'm on my own. I was given 4th shift (9pm-7am) with Mon-Tues-Wed off. I've been told I have 37 beat which goes from Oliver to Webb, Kellogg to Central. It shouldn't bee too bad on 4th shift since the stores at the mall will be closed down.

Justin and I are still doing really well. We just had our 6 month anniversary. He filled out some paperwork to be put on the lease here. He's letting me get a cat once I get out of FTO and have a regular schedule. Since Justin doesn't want the kitty litter in his bathroom, we are fixing up the spare bedroom for the kitty. Since Samson seems to like to eat kitty litter and its contents I have decided to elevate the kitty's litter box. So, I am gonna go to the DAV and try to find a table.

That's all for now. I'll blog more after my final phase and after my first few days on my own. This week I'll work Tues-Fri on 3rd for final phase. Since our pay period starts on Saturday, that is my first day of my new schedule. So, I'll also work Sat and Sun. on 4th shift. So, six days in a row. That should be fun.

3 more weeks

I know, it's been a long time since my last blog. It has just been hard to get motivated to do much on my days off. I did 4 weeks on 4th shift (9pm-7am) and was just getting used to that schedule when I moved to 1st (7am-5pm). I am just starting to get used to 1st shift. I have gotten out of the apartment more this weekend. I had this Saturday off for President's day. I go back on Wed. for the last week of phase 3.

My phase 3 FTO is pretty hard on me. He knows a lot of stuff, especially about gangs and Plainview. I'm getting a wake up call to the fact that 13 year old boys are as violent as adults. It's been hard adjusting to thinking the world is a good place to not trusting anyone and thinking any person you could stop might want to kill you.

I still haven't done anything too exciting yet. I was riding with another officer the other day when he noticed a car in the driveway of someone wanted for murder, but he was supposedly out of the state. We called detectives and they got info from a CI that the guy was there. We were sent to secure the house until SWAT showed up. We were to make sure no one came or went. I grabbed my shotgun and went to the front of the house. Me and my FTO for the day had the front door. Eventually SWAT showed up and moved us back. I was about 50 ft from the front door when the suspect walked out the front door. He was taken into custody without incident. Then we got to sit on the house for the rest of the day while the narcotics unit secured a search warrant. I got to be there when narcs showed up to execute the search warrant. I saw all kinds of drugs and paraphernalia that I had never seen before. The guy was Albert Thomas. He was accused of killing a girl in Plainview last summer.

That's about as exciting as it has gotten. Justin has been assigned to 2nd shift (2:30pm - 11 pm) with Tues. Wed. off. I'm hoping my schedule will work with that. I know I will definitely have Tues and Wed. off so that will be nice. He also gets his own car since he graduated first in his class.

End of Week 2 in Phase 2

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged. Switching to 4th shift (9 p.m. - 7 a.m.) has been pretty hard to get used to. I get home at dawn and get up when it's dusk. I'm outside mostly during the night time. I feel like a vampire. I went outside one day when it was sunny to walk Samson I my eyes hurt from the bright light. By the time I get used to this schedule, I go to first shift. That transition is really going to suck.

Anyway, I really don't feel like I have gotten into much during the past 3 weeks. I had my first disturbance with a weapon in week 2 of phase 1. I got to draw my gun and point it at people. I am pretty sure we were put out as "officer in trouble" because every law enforcement officer in the county showed up. I was one of the first officers on a shooting call. No victims at the residence, but there was lots of people to deal with. There was also lots of dried blood in the garage. I got to babysit shell casings for 3 hours till the lab came and collected them.

I had my first DUI last week. It was a pretty easy one because he was hammered and kept telling me he was. I wasn't even able to complete fields on him. Then I got him to the jail and he started getting mouthy. I went to grab his arm and he pulled away from me. At that point all the officers in the vicinity were on the guy. I got to grab and twist his arm back and then put him in cuffs. Somehow (well, I know now but I didn't know then) my cuffs got locked up. So, as I was trying to slap them on him they weren't working. He'll probably feel that in the morning. The jail deputies drug him into the jail and put him in a holding cell.

Right now I have a really good FTO and an awesome Sgt. They have realized I have good instincts and make good decisions but I have some confidence issues. So, they have kind of decided to jump start me into a phase 3 and 4 mode and pretty much let me run my own show. The first day they did that, I actually felt like I was having fun. They said they noticed a huge increase in my confidence. I even got an E (excellent) for my self-initiated activity. I also got an E for the day I got my DUI for self-initiated activity because I decided on my own to sit off a problem bar. I wasn't even looking for a DUI. This bar has a huge gang clientele. I was really just looking for someone with a warrant. And, there are always disturbances in the parking lot of this place.

Anyway, I start week 3 of phase 2 tomorrow night. This last week Justin has also been on their 3rd shift (10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.). However, we don't have a single night off together. We do both work Saturdays and Tuesdays. I am not sure what shift he will be on or what his schedule will be after this Saturday. Hopefully he won't be in FTD much longer and he will be on his own regular schedule.

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.