Sunday, August 3, 2008

police training

I grew up in a bad neighborhood. I was one of the fortunate few who had working homes with both parents, but even still, I was afraid every day. I was afraid to go to school, or even to go outside. I saw a lot of my friends get into drug dealing, crime, and other nefarious activities.

I knew I wanted to do something different than that. I saw what happened to them – many died young. They would either get arrested and put in jail, or shot. I did not want to spend my life in jail, and I certainly didn't want to die. I decided to go into police officer training. I am glad that I did.

When I first joined the police academy training school,I got a lot of grief from my friends. Going in to police training was seen as selling out. No one wanted to see me training to be a police officer.

They felt that they could not trust me anymore. A lot of them hoped that the police training would be just a phase. They figured that, once I was in a police academy for a few weeks, I would see that it wasn't for me. That isn't how the police training worked out. I had a police trainer who served as my mentor. I respected him tremendously, and seeing how he handled himself and his professional duties made me want even more to get involved in a law enforcement career.

One of the great things about police training is that it doesn't take that long. Police schools are usually less than a year long, and after that you are ready to join the force. Don't get me wrong – you still have a lot of learning to do, but it is learning that you get to do on the job.

Your police training gives you the very basics, but until you are on the street dealing with crooks day in and day out, you don't really know what working as a police officer is about.

It is tough work, but it is a rewarding job. Anyone who has gone through police training will tell you that it is worth the time and effort. Although sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't gone to police training, generally I am glad that I did. It has given me a rewarding job, a sense of purpose, and a good career as well.

No comments: