Sunday, March 23, 2014

Montana Law Enforcement Academy

I just returned from a week at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy!  I had to go in order to certify as a dispatcher for the State.  I was a little apprehensive about going.  The unknown can be intimidating.

I set off for the academy Sunday afternoon after working an early shift.  Thanks to modern technology I safely found my way to this new adventure through the back roads and snow covered gravel.  I arrived relieved that I didn't find my way into a ditch while in the middle of the beautiful know where.  After checking in I headed to my room to find what would be my (and four other lady's) biggest shock of the week.  I expected to be staying in what can be mistaken for a "small jail cell" - minus the bars.  You can imagine our surprise when the five of us (Brooke, Barb, Deb, Susanna, and I) found ourselves in a large room with six beds and five small office cuticle dividers.  "Where is my jail cell?!", I thought. "I want my jail cell!  Where's my privacey?".  In addition to our exposed beds we were each assigned a small 2x3 locking coat closet. As new roomies, we all looked around at our beds and at each other.  I'm pretty sure the phrase, "Are you kidding me" was used repeatedly.  Nevertheless, we picked up our jaws off the floor and made up our beds with minimal complaints.

All the dispatchers were welcomed to join PT (Physical Training) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings if they were interested.  Monday morning came too early but I headed over to the gym. I wasn't surprised to find myself as the only dispatcher in attendance at 5:30am.  I WAS surprised, on the other hand, to find that my workout was with about 50 law enforcement officers in training.  I threw my shoes on and jumped into the action and felt like I kept up alright. One of the deputies in training even thought I was going to be a State Trooper. That was cool, I guess.  There were about 25 different stations set up for pairs to rotate into every thirty seconds.  Although I am out of shape I found the workout refreshing and I was sore each time I attended. I sure do wish I could take the class home to motivate me to get in shape!

After getting ready for the day we headed to class.  Our daily schedule was basically 8am-5pm give or take. Our instructor, Roxanne, set the tone for the week.  She was enthusiastic, funny, informative, and caring. She shared some meaningful thoughts and asked for volunteers to open Tuesday morning.  Our eyes locked and I found myself with a small stack of books to glean my inspiration from.  I really enjoyed our classes for the day.  Our first class was on ethics.  Although, I enjoy learning technical topics once in a while I have found that my interest in how to interact and get along with people is growing.  Any classes that are based on values, human interaction and psychology are really intriguing to me and I was happy to find several of these types of courses throughout the week.

Tuesday was an interesting day.  I shared my thoughts to the class about the importance of us loving and potentially making a difference to callers and it seemed to go over well.  I am very grateful for the public speaking training I've been given through church and school because it has really raised my confidence level when I get in front of people.  In fact, I really enjoy public speaking if it's a topic I am interested in.

Our diversity class was stimulating.  Roxanne shared a video about a teacher who did an experiment on her class quite a few years ago.  This experiment is something that no teacher in the US would get away with in our day.  She decided to divide the class against each other based on their eye color.  One day the blue eyed kids were superior and the next the brown.  As I watched this experiment I found myself filled with many emotions and questions. I guess I wasn't the only one because the class was filled with hot and cold emotions and I think it even ended that way.  Over all I appreciate mind bogglers, things that get the wheels in my head spinning.

By the end of the week we were all ready to go home but it was sad to say our goodbyes.  I connected with all of my roomies and enjoyed getting to know them.  We had some extreme laughs often and it felt good to let loose and be myself.  I felt very accepted and was surprised that I didn't see an ounce of drama from any of the 25 ladies attending the academy.  How cool is that?

I'm grateful for the things I learn and the friends I made.  It was hard on my family, especially Holland while I was gone. Poor Holland has asked me several times since then to ask my boss to not let me work so much.  That's been really tough on me but I think I will work a few less hours in the near future when our trainee's are ready to go.

In spite of rough times life is good and I am blessed.  Can't complain about that!












It seems to me that it's people that make or break the fun times.  My apprehension turned to "you've got to be kidding me" after I arrived and saw where I would be staying.  I was told I would have something similar to a jail cell - minus the bars.  When I, and four others, arrived we were surprised to find ourselves in a large room with six beds and a couple small dividers similar to work cuticle dividers.  The extent of our privacy was limited to 2x3 foot closets that we could lock our valuables in.  We shared a community bathroom with four toilets and six showers with 28 other women.  When we (Brooke, Deb, Barb, Susanna, and I) all arrived and looked around our jaws were on the floor and we agreed that this was not we had expected.  Although we were caught off guard, no one really complained.  We all set up our beds and unpacked a few belongings and headed off to orientation.

Our instructor, Roxanne, set the tone for the week.  She was enthusiastic, funny, informative, and caring.  She gave us the down low on the week and sent us on our way for the evening.

The first evening I found myself a little surprised at how early my new roommates retired to bed. 8:30 seemed pretty early to me but I didn't mind since I was planning on getting up early to work out.  I think I hit the sack by 9:30 and was up at 5:10 for PT (Physical Training).  I was told that there would be some future cops doing stations and anyone was welcome to join them.  When I arrived I didn't find a FEW.  I found around 50 ...and I was late.  I didn't really mind since I wasn't being graded and I knew how out of shape I was.  So, I hopped into a vacant spot and got at it.  The training wasn't as difficult as I expected but I was still pretty sore the next day.

She shared a meaningful story and asked if anyone was interested in sharing something the next morning.  Somehow her eyes locked on mine and I found myself preparing a thoughtful message for the next morning.  

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