POLICE

Police

Police

Introduction

In the police academy, there is a very demanding schedule. Positive behavior and a great deal of discipline are strictly enforced in the academy. During the twenty-one week academy, there will be classes of varying lengths throughout the program such as: Oral Communications, Domestic Violence, Use of force, Constitutional Law, Community Policing, Stress, Elder Abuse, Defensive Tactics, Criminal Law, Motor Vehicle Stops, Building Searches, Motor Vehicle Law, Juvenile Issues, Suicide Prevention, Interview and Interrogation, Ethics, Drug Investigations, Courtroom Testimony, Crime Scene Management, Report Writing, Pepper Spray, Baton, Handcuffing, Ground Defense, Edged Weapon Defense, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, Firearms and First Responder.

Research on Police Academy and the Chief of police

A recruit is expected to be on time at the academy to start the morning with drill and physical training. During these numerous classes, there are handouts given to the recruit, a slide show presentation, notes to be taken and a specialist in the particular field that will do a discussion section to answer questions on the pertaining subject and the infamous "what if...."questions. Some of these classes are a couple of days and some are week classes. For example the class on stress will be taught in a three-hour block, three times throughout the academy. The class on motor vehicle law is a forty-hour class broken down into numerous classes throughout the academy.

This is done so that a recruit is getting refreshed on a particular subject and is more apt to remember such large loads of information on an individual subject. Throughout the academy, there are periodic tests given at the end of each section of classes to see progress. If a recruit is not passing the tests or keeping up with the classes, he will be told that he is doing poorly and then if he does not improve, he will be asked to withdraw.

Throughout these classes, the recruits learn about the laws and what means of discretion a police officer has in situations. They are also given information about alternative means to help rehabilitate offenders instead of going through the court system. For example, an officer catches a party with marijuana on his person. The officer has the legal discretion to confiscate the marijuana and give the offender information about drug abuse programs for him to go to. Thus, by the officer just confiscating the marijuana, he alleviates the courts of another petty drug case, not making an entry into the offender's record and alleviating time for himself for the booking process.

The recruits are also taught the background of laws and the procedures. Many landmark cases or case law are used to help the recruit better understand where these specific laws originated. An example of this would be the case of Terry vs. Ohio, in this case the recruits are taught the when it is legal to "pat-frisk" a suspect for weapons. Recruits are expected to memorize these case laws and are informed that they will be tested on them in the ...