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Is anyone a police officer? I have general questions about the police academy.

furryrabidbunny

furryrabidbunny

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 10, 2005
475
0
Mesa, AZ
Does anyone have law enforcement experience? I am about to take my written and physical exams Tuesday, and I am stressed out about the academy. I keep getting mixed stories about it, and I just want more info. Is it basically a glorified bootcamp or more like attending college? My greatest fear is I wont be able to meet the sure physicality of it, the test for Arizona DPS isn't much, I have the mile and a half beaten by about five and a half minutes, but I'm not a triathlete. Any general experience or thoughts about it would be very welcomed.
 
Just to make you feel better...

8729742.jpg
 
Good Luck Furry,

I have a friend who went to work for the Dept. of Transportation and she had to go through the academy. She made. If she (a mother of 2 and she was not prone to running or exercise) you can.
 
Start working out regularly, you will need it come summer.

Since you will basically feel you are wearing a sweater/jacket during the summer.
 
Well, the academy must be easy here in Portland because...well, the majority of cops are good but the ones that are bad...are really bad.

Good luck! I just ask that you be the good cop, the one who helps the grandma accross the road and catches the murderer not the one who beats the crap out of a helpless homeless guy.

While I don't know about the academy, I do know that being a cop is HARD. My grandpa was an officer in LA in the 60s in the youth department. At 35 he had a heart attack chasing down a criminal. He rarely talks about it, but when he does, he tells me two things: the first is that it is difficult to see so many people in trouble and not be able to help them all, and the second is that when you are able to help someone, it is one of the greatest feelings you can have.

Anyway, again, good luck.
 
furryrabidbunny said:
Does anyone have law enforcement experience? I am about to take my written and physical exams Tuesday, and I am stressed out about the academy. I keep getting mixed stories about it, and I just want more info. Is it basically a glorified bootcamp or more like attending college? My greatest fear is I wont be able to meet the sure physicality of it, the test for Arizona DPS isn't much, I have the mile and a half beaten by about five and a half minutes, but I'm not a triathlete. Any general experience or thoughts about it would be very welcomed.
Click to expand...

Howdy,

I successfully went through the academy in Washington state.

I believe the physical requirements are the same everywhere, and really, they're not that tough. The hardest event was the 1.5 mile run. Since you've got that down the rest will be easy. As to the academy itself, the biggest thing to remember is "yes sir", "no sir", "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am". Just do everything you're asked to do. In some ways it's just a big game, and as long as you follow the rules you'll do fine.

It's more like college than it is like boot camp. Make that community college. In WA the hardest parts were police procedures and criminal law. Don't take the academic work lightly.

Also, don't be afraid of firearms. Respect them, and respect the range boss. You can wash out for being unsafe on the range.

Best of luck, and let us know how it goes. And feel free to write me privately if you have specific questions.

Ranger
 
Thanks for the info...

BearRanger said:
Howdy,

I successfully went through the academy in Washington state.

I believe the physical requirements are the same everywhere, and really, they're not that tough. The hardest event was the 1.5 mile run. Since you've got that down the rest will be easy. As to the academy itself, the biggest thing to remember is "yes sir", "no sir", "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am". Just do everything you're asked to do. In some ways it's just a big game, and as long as you follow the rules you'll do fine.

It's more like college than it is like boot camp. Make that community college. In WA the hardest parts were police procedures and criminal law. Don't take the academic work lightly.

Also, don't be afraid of firearms. Respect them, and respect the range boss. You can wash out for being unsafe on the range.

Best of luck, and let us know how it goes. And feel free to write me privately if you have specific questions.

Ranger
Click to expand...
This page has the requirements I must meet http://www.azdps.gov/hr/employment/Officer.asp
I'll be honeset they aren't much. I've been running with a 20 pound vest now to add extra weight... and I've timed it, I've walked that event in that amount of time. My brother in law, a detective with DPS, said the same thing about the academy, I just wanted to hear other people's opinion. The education portion is something that doesn't worry me. Don't take me wrong, I am not taking it lightly, but I've never been failed academcially when I've tried. My last three semesters of college I held 4.0s. I look forward to learning more about the law (I took one criminal justice class in college). I know in the back of my mind they are moving away from the model athlete officer and more to the balanced, educated individual to cut back on bad decision making and poor judgement, I just struggle with self doubt.
 
BearRanger said:
Also, don't be afraid of firearms. Respect them, and respect the range boss. You can wash out for being unsafe on the range.
Click to expand...
I agreed that as much, it would be damm stupid to get yourself killed or injured during training if it can be avoided when you just need to be more careful (or even worse, horseplaying)
 
furryrabidbunny said:
This page has the requirements I must meet http://www.azdps.gov/hr/employment/Officer.asp
I'll be honeset they aren't much. I've been running with a 20 pound vest now to add extra weight... and I've timed it, I've walked that event in that amount of time. My brother in law, a detective with DPS, said the same thing about the academy, I just wanted to hear other people's opinion. The education portion is something that doesn't worry me. Don't take me wrong, I am not taking it lightly, but I've never been failed academcially when I've tried. My last three semesters of college I held 4.0s. I look forward to learning more about the law (I took one criminal justice class in college). I know in the back of my mind they are moving away from the model athlete officer and more to the balanced, educated individual to cut back on bad decision making and poor judgement, I just struggle with self doubt.
Click to expand...

Can't help you with academy or DPS stuff, but I can tell you that police officers get free drinks at QuikTrip.
 
furryrabidbunny said:
This page has the requirements I must meet http://www.azdps.gov/hr/employment/Officer.asp
I'll be honeset they aren't much. I've been running with a 20 pound vest now to add extra weight... and I've timed it, I've walked that event in that amount of time. My brother in law, a detective with DPS, said the same thing about the academy, I just wanted to hear other people's opinion. The education portion is something that doesn't worry me. Don't take me wrong, I am not taking it lightly, but I've never been failed academcially when I've tried. My last three semesters of college I held 4.0s. I look forward to learning more about the law (I took one criminal justice class in college). I know in the back of my mind they are moving away from the model athlete officer and more to the balanced, educated individual to cut back on bad decision making and poor judgement, I just struggle with self doubt.
Click to expand...

Right, the academic portion isn't that hard. As I said, it's at best community college level stuff. There's an old joke that I'm sure you'll hear at the academy. "You know what they call the recruit who just barely scraped through the academy with a 70% score?"

"Officer".

If I can offer you one more piece of advice: work on your self doubt issues. So much of what your new career is about will be making a decision--hopefully the correct decision--in a short period of time. You'll have to diffuse volatile situations that could potentially lead to you or someone else getting hurt. You won't have time to second guess yourself, and if you appear indecisive you will be taken advantage of and you won't be effective. Remember, the public is *always* watching.

When you're at the academy signs of self doubt will be noticed, and your instructors will hammer you for it. When you go through mock scenes, self doubt will cause you to fail. So if you're going to pursue this line of work actively work at building your self confidence.

Again, good luck. I trust you'll let us all know when you graduate?

Ranger
 
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