The Moon

Shoot the Dog

Today we had a test on "Use of Force." At line up this morning, before the test, it was negotiated that for every person who didn't get %100 we would have to do a push up. The test was a 50 question test. I felt good throughout the whole test. I read the questions carefully and found my little happy place and breathed. The test was the type that if you thought to much about the answer or over analyzed the question you would get it wrong. The question that got me went like this, 

An officer responds to a small neighborhood for a report of an aggressive dog. When the officer arrives to the house the dog owner releases the dog. The dog charges the officer, the officer draws his weapon and shoots the dog, killing it. 

Was the use of force reasonable? 

Yes or No

I spent way to much time thinking about the answer. I read and re-read that question a dozen times. I thought it would be unreasonable to shoot the dog. Although it would be legal to shoot it, I didn't feel it was reasonable to kill the dog. I thought using my baton would be a better use of force. I was wrong. I was supposed to shoot the dog. Another reason I choose not to shoot was because when an officer decides to draw his weapon it's done out of fear for his or another's life. I didn't think the dog was life threatening.  

That was the only question I missed. I'm real upset about it. I was so close to getting %100. Ten of the cadets got %100's. So we did 31 push-ups this afternoon. 

Shoot the Dog!

 

Black Powder

The last two days we've been going over Crime Scenes, Evidence and Forensics. It's been kinda fun. The class broke up into groups and we spent a lot of time  investigating mock crime scenes. 

The best part of the last two days was the fingerprinting. We played with black powder and made finger prints, 

Lots of fun, but very messy, 

Point Lobos

Today I went to Point Lobos with two of the guards. We were planning on diving the area but found out you have to make reservations to dive there. We were pretty bummed and decided to hike around the area and make reservations for next weekend. Here are a few pictures from our hike. 

Long Days

It was a long week... we learned about, Use of Force, Cultural Diversity/Discrimination and Sexual Harassment. Here are a few highlights of the week that come to mind, 

We had 4 exams! I passed all...yahhhh!

We received a 200 page booklet on the California State Policies regarding the "Use of Force." I found section B particularly interesting, 

Section B states that we can discharge our firearm and kill an animal if it "poses an immediate or continuing threat to public safety and welfare, or to wildlife at the unit." When I read this section I raised my hand and seriously asked, "Sir, does this mean that if there is an aggressive animal, such as a seal, I can pull out my gun and shoot it?"  Everyone started laughing hysterically. I don't remember getting a straight answer out of the instructor. I'm looking forward to shooting my first seal! (sorry PETA.) Can you imagine, me, while on patrol, shooting an aggressive seal? 

Since we are going over "Use of Force" the cadets get to wear belts.  

The other side of my belt is my baton. When the cadets do push-ups we have to hold the baton in our hands and the baton can NOT hit the ground. Funny story about the batons and push-ups, when we had finished a round of push-ups and were asked to put the baton back into it's holder one of the cadets missed the loop the baton sits in and the baton fell to the ground. Our training officer asked who's baton fell and when he confessed we all had to do 25 jumping jacks. The person that dropped the baton ran to the front of the group to lead the whole group in jumping jacks, the funny thing is, when we completed the jumping jacks and he ran back into line he accidently hit the instructors car with his baton. The instructor didn't say anything about it but I almost died laughing. I wonder if that was subconsciously done.  

We also got to wear a bullet proof vest. Ladies, how to gain 10 pounds in five minutes, put on a bullet proof vest. Not only does it make you feel fat but it smashes down the boobs. Luckily the vest we're wearing are only temporary. We got sized this week for the vest we will be wearing in the field.  

Christmas Spirit at Asilomar, my roommate and I,

All the cadets are broken up into squads. I am in squad 1 and had the privilege of being the squad leader this week. Here is my mighty squad from my perspective, 

Lastly, I got my Hep B shoot, and did not pass out!

Arts and Crafts

Remember in elementary school when we had arts and crafts? On Monday we had our own arts and crafts for cops! We drew pictures and made bendels. The new instructor we had this week is a D.A for Monterey and is hysterical. I feel like I've been at a comedy show all week. It's been an entertaining and fun week learning about the law. 

Here are the arts and crafts from class:

I didn't draw the picture on the board, but it's a chart explaining the steps of force when you're in contact with someone. It starts with happy people to sad people in jail.

It's hard to see the pictures above, but we were assigned to draw pictures of our other instructor, which is also a D.A for Monterey and a good friend with the new instructor. 

Here is the bendel I made! I didn't know what a bendel was till Monday afternoon.  Bendel's are little bags druggies make to store their drugs (mom, it's not real). They're easy to make, all you need is a plastic bag and a lighter. If you would like more instructions on how to store your drugs just let me know.

Discipline builds Character

Today was a rough day. Actually it's been a rough 48 hours. I didn't mention on my last blog that Monday morning the class was brought to the attention that something of a confidential nature had occurred last weekend. A few individuals were called out of class to discuss the manner. This morning the class was informed that two of the cadets were sent home. An explanation was never given, all we found out was that the dismissal had something to do with alcohol. Because of the actions of the individuals the class had painful consequences. We spent 30 minutes out on the grinder doing push-ups, burpies, sit-ups, jumping jack, leg lifts and flutter kicks in the air. When we did push-up's we had to say "Alcohol is not my friend" and were lectured and verbally abused the whole time. The unfortunate part of all this is the two people dismissed were lifeguards, so guess who was getting picked on, yup, lifeguards. We were all interrogated about our consumption of alcohol. It was not fun and I was in so much physical pain at the end that my whole body was shaking. After the torture the instructors searched all the cadets rooms and after lunch we were tortured again for another 30 minutes. The instructor took out a bag of items that were found in the searched rooms. We had to physically work off the items. One item was hot sauce (don't know who's) and the Special Guest Training Officer says, 

"BRAY, DO YOU LIKE HOT SAUCE?"

Me, "Sir, yes, sir."

"BRAY, HOW MANY PUSH UPS WOULD YOU GIVE FOR THIS HOT SAUCE."

At this point I didn't really know what to say, I thought for a moment...

"BRAY, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT? IT'S NOT A TRICK QUESTION. YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO STUDY FOR THIS ANSWER."

The reason I was thinking about it was because the hot sauce wasn't that good of a hot sauce so I was trying to place a push-up value to the cruddy hot sauce he had, I didn't want to do any, but thought if I said zero I'd get in trouble, so, I answer, "Sir, 20 sir."

"20? BRAY, IS THAT ALL YOU CAN DO?"

me, "Sir, yes, sir"

"ANYONE ELSE? CAN ANYONE GIVE ME MORE THAN 20?"

He bugged me a couple more time for some other reasons I don't recall. One thing I do remember is he said I had "pretty blue eyes." He said it in a negative, jerky way, but I took it as a complement anyways. 

At our first break after the afternoon torture we had to go back out to the grinder. Once again we were tortured. This time we got in trouble because a few cadets were overheard talking negatively about a conference group that is on the Asilimar grounds. The group is called "Silence." They are here for meditation purposes. The torture lasted only about 15 minutes this time. 

It's kinda a bummer that the two guys that got sent home were lifeguards. It doesn't look good and I can tell that the lifeguard reputation just went down the tube. Lifeguards now have to try to redeem ourselves. 

At the end of class this evening we were assigned three papers as more punishment. A four-page paper on the last paragraph of the code of ethics, three-pages on why I am here and two-pages on why alcohol is not my friend. 

I do have good news though, the special guest went home! 

Bad news, he will come back, probably sooner than later.

More bad news, my body hurts. 

Special Guest Appearance

Today we had an instructor from Ben Clark Academy in Riverside visit. The Riverside Academy is a high stress academy, where the instructors are up in your face yelling and making you do push ups all day. I was fortunate enough today to experience what that was like. While in formation the instructor walked around belittling a few of the cadets. The following script is a small piece of what happened this morning (the capital text is the instructor yelling)...

To the person next me, "WHAT IS THAT ON YOUR CHEST? DO YOU THINK THATS CUTE (points to guys chest hair)? YOU BETTER SHAVE THAT."

Person next to me, "Sir, Yes, Sir."

"YOU BETTER HAVE IT DONE BY TOMORROW, NO, HAVE IT DONE BY LUNCH."

Person next to me, "Sir, Yes, Sir."

Instructor walks in front of me, "WHAT IS THAT? (pointing to my hat and some visible hair)"

Looking straight ahead I didn't answer

"YOU BETTER ANSWER  ME."

Me, "Sir, Yes, Sir."

"YOU ANSWER WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU. YOU BETTER PULL THAT HAIR BACK."

Me, "Sir, Yes, Sir."

"WHAT? I DIDN'T HEAR YOU. SOUND OFF BRAY."

shouting louder, "Sir, Yes, Sir."

"I SAID SOUND OFF BRAY! USE YOUR BIG GIRL VOICE."

Louder, "Sir, Yes, Sir."

He walks away, to another victim, "HOW MUCH YOU WIEGH?"

Victim, "Sir, 190, sir."

"YOU'RE FAT... YOU BETTER LAY OFF THE DESERTS."

Instructor comes back to me, "BRAY, WHATS THE CODE OF ETHICS?"

I start the code...

"BRAY. YOU'RE ALL MESSED UP, I CAN'T HEAR YOU, WHY ARE YOU BATTING YOUR EYES AT ME? WHATS THE CODE OF ETHICS."

(The code of ethics that we have learned is different from what cadets learn in Riverside, so, I started off the code wrong to his standards.)

"WHAT IS THAT YOU SAY, THATS NOT THE CODE OF ETHICS, IS THAT THE CODE OF ETHICS? THE LAW ENFORCEMENT CODE OF ETHICS IS THE BIBLE. YOU ARE CHANGING THE CODE TO FIT YOU. YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE CODE. GET ON THE GROUND AND START PUSHING. DOWN! (I count out and did 20 push-ups). STAND UP, RUN IN PLACE, PUT YOUR HANDS UP. WHAT'S THE CODE? SAY THE CODE. KEEP GOING AND GET IT DONE. (He walks away.)

I continue with the code, and went completely blank.

"BRAY! I CAN'T HEAR YOU." He walks back over to me, "WHAT IS THE CODE?"

I close my eyes to recite again,

"WHY ARE YOU CLOSING YOUR EYES, YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR EYES CLOSED WHEN YOUR AN OFFICER. OPEN YOUR EYES. THEY CAN ATTACK YOU. YOU NEED TO GET SQUARED AWAY. OPEN YOUR EYES. DON'T LOOK AT ME."

"Sir, Yes, Sir."

"WHAT?"

louder, "Sir, Yes, Sir."

This is just a small part of what happened this morning. He came to me several times to hassle me, what I wrote above is all I can remember. It was myself and one other guy the instructor picked on the most. I have never been yelled at like that before, it was hard for me not to crack a smile. Afterwards, many of my wonderful classmates came up to me and asked, "are you okay?" Several of the guys said they wanted to jump out at the instructor to defend me, they wanted to tell him not to talk to me that way. Everyone felt so bad, they wanted to back me up. One guy even said he wanted to cry for me. It was sweet that everyone was supportive and feeling for me. It was a rough morning, and the instructor will be here all week!  

anxiety+dyslexia=problem

If you've been keeping up with my blog you would know that I had three test this week. I studied hard for all and felt great on two out of three. My first test was on Monday and I completely froze up and blanked. When I finished the test I was certain I failed. The last two test I felt great about. Three long days later I got pulled into the office and was notified that I failed my first test! It was the worst feeling, and a scary one, I only had one chance to re-take the test. If I failed than I would be out of the whole academy. After my depressing news I did the natural thing, I went to my room cried for about 3-5 minutes and than took my book and began to study again. The cadets were amazing! They all encouraged me and spent a good amount of hours helping me study. My instructors also helped me study and scheduled my re-take test for this morning (Friday). And I past! I am so relieved! I only missed one question. In case you were wondering about the two other test I only missed one question on each. Three test down 25 more to go. I hope failing never happens again. 

Where I study

Its a wonderful rainy day here in Pacific Grove! I went for a nice long run in the rain this morning, had breakfast, studied, went into town with one of the girls for lunch and a pedicure, went back to the lodge to study, had dinner and then studied a little more. All the lodges on the Asilomar grounds has a fireplace and it's well used in my lodge. Every evening after class and on the weekends the fire is burning. The fire gives the lodge a real homey feel to it and it make studying a little bit more relaxing. 

Next week I have three test, I have to pass with an %80. Also, I have to have the second part of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics memorized. The Code of Ethics is four paragraphs long and I'll eventually have to have it all memorized.