Day 16 - "Deux" - 7/7/09 - 7/15/09

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of last week, I'd like to re-emphasize that I will NOT be discontinuing this blog, but please understand that I have been very busy with work and all. Between work and home life, unfortunately this blog has taken a back seat. I am coming up with a solution though to make these blog entries more than once a week; I will promise you that

I am very glad I received the extra week to brush up my skills in Phase 1. A couple of interesting things happened, but the last day offered some of the better calls.

Well, I apparently got my picture taken by a tourist during the progress of a spontaneous call due to a turtle sunning himself in the roadway. My FTO is like, "Get out and move it". Sure, no problem. I reach into my back glove pouch and my FTO is like, "No, just move him with your foot." I walk up to the turtle and he tucks himself inside his shell; shit, this should be as easy as moving a 30-lb soccer ball. Unfortunately, when I started to move him, he started crawling in the wrong direction, so I tried to pick him up, and all of a sudden all of his limbs came out and he went scurrying off into the bushes. I was like, "Holy shit, turtles are fast!" The next thing I know, there's a car behind us, and the driver is giving me a thumbs up and his passenger appeared to have been holding a camera. Looks like I'll be making Youtube.

Another call was a disturbance at a house, so I fell back on my training(which served me very well, mind you) and approached the house with two other officers, one of which was just released from FTO. My FTO told the two of us to search the house. My weapon came fluidly out of the holster, as did my flashlight. I immediately took the lead and began communincating with the other officer as to what we were to do, room by room. During the course of the building search, it became very apparent how important it was to pay attention in the academy. I personally had absolutely no officer safety issues. However, the other guy had a few, one of which was very dangerous. During the course of the building search, I would open the doors in a tactical manner and he would be the primary officer in the room. I ALWAYS had my finger off the trigger, while in some instances he had his ON. He also didn't know where in the room to begin first, so both him (and his weapon) were all over the place, which made me a little nervous to say the least. During the course of his marauding through rooms, he was constantly putting himself in my line of fire, so I constantly had to lower my weapon and move, which put me at a tactical disadvantage. Thankfully, the other party had already left the house, so we took a statement from the first party and headed out.

During the course of these calls, I have been getting more on point with my paperwork and my radio transmissions, and it would be of much help on my last day in Phase 1. We received three separate calls, all of which required a different "hat" to wear.

The first was very simple. Two vehicles were parked in a construction area and were to be moved. I ran backgrounds on both vehicles, filled out two tow sheets, and began my report. Both vehicles were towed without incident. Just then, another call came in which required a bit more urgency. We arrived in an office where a not-so-gentleman was just terminated from employment, and had apparently started to get a bit rowdy, so we escorted him to pick up his things, issued a trespass order, and escorted out. The last call was even more urgent.... a medical emergency.

A small child was having multiple seizures at one of the clinics, so we responded. I immediately put on all personal protection equipment (PPE) and went inside. I was expecting the worst, but the doctors seemed to have it under control, so it was our responsibility to roll a rescue, where the child was transported to one of the local hospitals.

At the end of the day, it was time for my end of phase eval, where I received a passing grade for phase 1, and got some comments as well. I received a very high grade in appearance, officer safety (which is what I cared most about), relationships with the community and relationships with other officers, report writing, and a couple of others. The only thing I had to work on was my knowledge of the standard operating procedures, which were huge, but something I could accomplish. I was then handed off to my 2nd FTO, who was in charge of guiding me through Phase 2.

The first day of Phase 2 wasn't bad at all. We did some traffic, where I was now allowed to conduct the entire traffic stop by myself and write all necessary citations, and we attempted to respond to a call, but were quickly cancelled after it had been resolved. I used the utmost officer safety on all stops, and I am sure my FTO noticed, which made me happy.

Looks like Phase 2 has a lot in store for me! Hope to keep you updated soon!