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FOREWORD
If you were to join the military, police or sheriff departments you
will encounter individuals known as training officers or drill instructors.
These individuals are formed out of a single mold.
First of all, to qualify they must be hard of hearing. They go through
the day yelling... " I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"... You stand at attention
and keep raising your voice until your throat is raw and your tonsils
change sides..... "YES SIR, NO SIR, NO EXCUSE SIR!" Additional
qualifications include being very near sighted. As the instructors stand
one quarter inch from your nose and yell things your own mother wouldn't
think of saying. Your brain freezes and your speech is inaudible.
Finally you graduate from the police or sheriff academy or military
boot camp. With the military, your are generally through with verbal
abuse unless you volunteer for some life threatening unit to be closer
to God. The police or sheriff graduates usually are assigned to custody
or transportation units. After a time you might decide to transfer to
patrol. The "Glamour" job of law enforcement.
Now you are assigned to a new type of Training Officer. First of all,
the rule for a trainee is.... Eyes Open, Ears Open and Mount SHUT! You
are not allowed to speak to the general public (You don't know what
you're talking about anyway). Should you be asked a question by someone
from the public, you are to "Nod" towards your Training Officer.
You are assigned certain duties such as carrying your Training Officer's
equipment out to the radio car. This consists of a metal box containing
all report forms and citation books, flashlights, shotgun, clipboards
and your Training Officer's lunch. Your duties are to: run after anyone
who runs from us, climb any fence, scale any wall, leap up on any roof,
handle anything with a foul odor or caustic chemical, sift through any
garbage bin for evidence and most important keep your Training Officer
supplied with coffee and donuts. And it's going to be months in the
future before you think about driving the radio car or even touching
the switches to turn on the red lights and siren. When you went through
the Academy, you knew the instructors would not punch you out, stab
or shoot you. Now with the general public this does not hold true. You're
new and scared and you realize your well being is being looked after
by your Training Officer. You keep alert and listen to how your Training
Officer deals with the public. You have heard that a "Bartender"
is a great psychologist, however they never give advice that people
must rely on. The rule now is to never make a situation worst!
You realize your Training Officer is: a referee, councilor, statesman,
teacher, advisor, humorist, friend, politician, midwife, judge and sometimes
jury. You are now sworn with that badge and gun to protect life and
in some cases to take it. A tremendous responsibility now is upon your
shoulders. Your brain is like a sponge in a desert rainstorm, sucking
up all knowledge that you see and hear. After surviving this training,
your department will feel that you are able to work a one man car. It's
like having you solo with your airplane for the first time. It's a great
feeling and you are on your road to a great career.
These cartoons depict the average trainee who's mind is completely scrambled,
first by the sheer knowledge of what he has to learn and second by having
a female Training Officer, who in one day has shattered any macho ideas
he's had and has him agreeing that God indeed must be a woman.
Ret. Dep. Claude Anderson
Los Angeles County Sheriff Department
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The
Training Officer
