Week Sixteen and Seventeen - Recruit Sebastian

Week 16 began bright and early on Monday morning with Sexual Assault Investigations and how to handle them. In the LE profession, these types of cases are referred to as ‘shift killers’ due to amount of time spent on the investigation as well as the questioning of the parties involved. They are also some of the most gruesome, especially if children are involved, and unfortunately not that rare. On Tuesday, we spent half the day on High Risk Vehicle contacts, aka Felony Stops and the rest of the day on some more Arrest Control procedures.

High Risk Vehicle contacts were extremely fun and I have attached some pictures for your pleasure. Not only was communication important, between the officers and towards the suspect, but also the amount of time spent to properly execute them. Towards the end, we were able to see a K9 in action and every time I see them, I am in awe at how well trained and useful in several different scenarios they are. 

The rest of the week was spent mostly in the classroom with a lecture on Driving and some POST review. Friday morning, we were transported to the Law Enforcement memorial at the Colorado State Patrol Academy. There, we honored the fallen officers of Colorado and those that came before us.

Week 17 was entirely devoted to driving at the Denver PD track and the motto near the entrance “You can’t help if you don’t get there” best describes what this week is all about. Most officers are not killed by gunfire or other means, but die during traffic accidents. It was a fun experience and all of us had a great time overall along with sore muscles from picking up conesJ. 

Every day offered a new challenge and all courses offered a challenge. Most of the time was dedicated to backing and slower, skilled maneuvers. Aside from those, we learned emergency braking, high speed lane changes, and reactionary type drills. I will let the pictures do the talking and show you what you can expect while in the Academy as I am getting more and more busy with preparing for the final POST exam.

Only five more weeks to go; times is really starting to fly by now. 

Week Fifteen - Recruit Sebastian

Monday marked our last day of report writing class. We have come a long way since our first class and most reports are as close to perfect as possible. Also as I have noticed for myself, a report does no longer take almost two hours but closer to about a half an hour now. Our last scenario was a first degree trespass (into a vehicle with a crime committed therein) and it is all coming together. From knowing what questions to ask and what crime to charge all the way to putting it down on paper has become a lot easier altogether.

On Tuesday, we had our last day for firearms as a class. In the morning, we continued to work on how to exit vehicles and engaged a threat. We also shot a variety of different firearms the instructors provided to us and were granted a long lunch which we used to have a small barbecue.

The entire afternoon was spent to figure out who the best shot in the class was; the top gun competition. Congratulations to Recruit DeGesualdo on taking home the price. Wednesday morning we assembled at Red Rocks, not as usual for a ‘butt kicking’ workout, but for our class photo in our department issued class A uniforms. I have to say that as a class we looked sharp in our uniforms. In the afternoon, we learned about SWAT and were able to see a lot of ‘cool’ stuff; e.g. all of the equipment they use.

We finished of the week with simmunitions on Thursday, where we hunted each other around some containers and sustained some bruises. It is as close as training gets for being shot at and despite the sore body parts the next day, was a lot of fun.

The afternoon, at least for my squad, was spent at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds for our last round of Scenario based training. All of us did great and all of us will make great officers at our respective departments. Friday marked test #12 in the early morning followed by a Crowd Control, aka Riot control, lecture and practicals in the afternoon. Only 6 more weeks and a couple of days left until we take our POST exam.