The Academy - Learning to Be Patient as a C.O.P.

The academy was one of the toughest things I have ever experienced. The only thing that was comparable was when I served a two year mission for my church, but that seemed to be more mentally hard than a physical challenge. Now some of my ex-military buddies who went through the academy with me said the experience of the six weeks in Galt, California was like a cake walk compared to a real "boot camp." However, I did not know any better so to me it was the real deal. From the time I arrived to the time I left, it seemed like I had every Sergeant and classroom instructor (who usually was a Sergeant as well) was yelling at me or screaming in my face. The instructors said they were doing this so we would get used to the enemy (the inmates) yelling in our faces on a daily basis. Indeed, I needed to learn patience to get through this whole ordeal, but I kept asking myself, "Is this the easiest way to learn how to be a correctional officer?" There were times when I did not really know if I was going to survive. Not only did I have to put up with the mental anguish of someone yelling in my face all of the time, I had to deal with the physical challenges of the agility tests we had to go through and pass before we could graduate. As well, we had to maintain an 85.0% average on classroom studies and pass all the details of the PC 832 (a penal code section to become an official law enforcement officer.)

The problem that I had in the classroom is that I tried to do all of my homework by myself and I do not think that I ever got help outside of the classroom from any of my classmates. I was pretty much of a loner and the only one I really had any association with was with Cadet Smith (name changed) and I do not even remember even if we studied together or not. We were encouraged to study together but I never remember doing that. I was pretty shy when it came to asking for help and now looking back I think I could have done better if I had done a study group with my classmates Most of the time my overall average stayed around 84% and it was not until about the last week that I kicked it into high gear and somehow brought it up to an 87%. I must have gotten a couple of 100% on my last couple of quizzes or did very well on my final to bring it up to where I could graduate.

I considered Cadet Smith a very good friend and even though I do not remember studying with him, it may have been that he volunteered to help me in the last couple of weeks of the academy and that is why that my grades went up. Cadet Smith was a very sharp student and I believe his grades were in the high 90 percentile so looking for his tutorship was a good idea that is if I ever did seek his help.

One of the classes that Cadet Smith and I were in the instructor made it a point to say or ask us if any of us at the present time did not use bad language or curse on a frequent basis. There were not too many of us that raised our hands but I know I was one of them because I was raised in a religious background that taught us not to curse. He then went on to say that he promised that working in a prison setting that all of us would curse at one point or another. At that point I took up my own challenge to prove him wrong and never curse while I was at work. That I did and I am proud to say that 20 years of working for the California Department of Corrections I never cursed once. That I may say took a lot of patience on my part when I had inmates cursing at me all the time.

One of the other associations I remember about Cadet Smith is that one Sunday he made a challenge to me concerning our religious denominations. He told me that he would go to my church (Mormon) if I would agree to go to his (Catholic.) That we did and even though neither one of changed our religious convictions, we both got different views and philosophies of the others religion. One thing that impressed me about Cadet Smith is that he learned, I am sure, from his religious background to have a clean mouth. Now I do not know if he fell into using bad language or not, because we only worked together for about six months (our first prison that we were together at) and then we went our separate ways and since then have not kept in contact.

My next article I will continue on with my training in the academy and all of the things I observed, learned and experienced in the six weeks I was there.