Week 11--Recruit Fratto

This week we had a lot of practical scenarios. This is where we really learn what our job is about.

It's a lot better than sitting in a classroom for death by PowerPoint. Monday was all about building searches, not only did we get to see the K-9s do searches, but we did plenty ourselves. We did our searches at the old Jefferson County Mental Health building, and for those who don’t know, it has about 1,000 rooms.

On Wednesday, we did In-Progress calls at Heritage Square, which was an extension of our Officer Survival/Pedestrian Contacts class.
Our other squad had a great 70-degree day to do their practical outside. Our squad’s day wasn't so nice, but we got to use the Heritage Square buildings, which made it more real. It really tested our placement, because every space was tight and confined. We had to make sure that we don’t put each other in the crossfire, and that we covered each other effectively. As a class, we have all improved so much on our calls. We are starting to feel quite a bit more comfortable. In 11 more weeks when we graduate we should be as close to perfect as possible.

On Tuesday and Thursday, we were once again doing Arrest Control, but this week was a little bit different though. This week in Arrest Control we started ground fighting. It was a lot of fun to learn some fighting techniques, and then test them against our instructors at the end.

This week for firearms was completely different then what we usually do. On Tuesday we went over to the Sheriff’s Office and focused on our basic fundamentals. After that, we were able to use the JeffCo firearms simulator for shoot/no-shoot scenarios.

The simulator is like a big video game, and I wanted to go home and ask my girlfriend if I could have one for my birthday. I’m pretty sure she wouldn't allow me to spend $60,000 on a game.

On Thursday, we did our first night shoot, we lucked out and had a bit of cloud cover to help with some light. We learned to manipulate our flashlights, and I think all of us shot pretty well. The difficult part is being able to see a weapon, so we lose a bit of reaction time making sure we can shoot.

On Friday we ended the week with Test # 10, which all of us passed again! One thing to note in this profession is the possibility of having a lot of ups and downs. We were all on a high note from the test, and then realized that our last class for the day was Crimes against Children. I’m not going to go into much detail, but the class outraged me and I don’t understand how people can treat children the way that they do. I just hope I can make a difference when I graduate, and help some of the children in need.

On a much better note, we are now exactly half way! It’s all downhill from here!