FTO

Just before starting Field Training (usually called FTO or The Program) the one deputy I knew in the department, and even him just barely, were discussing what it’s like.  He told me that a friend of his who is working for a different Sheriff’s office had been in the Army and done two tours in Iraq.  And he said FTO was the most stressful time of his life.  Not exactly what I needed to hear, but also that surprising.  I never thought this was going to be an easy gig.

So let me break FTO down for you.  In my agency it consists of five phases, plus a three-week orientation.  During orientation you’re introduced to the various functions within the department.  You’re not on the street at all during this time, save for the tour of the County and a visit to most of the substations.  But that’s all done in civvies.  I met with a detective from our different detective units, met the civil bureau and records folks, watched some exciting videos on workplace safety and blood borne pathogens, and read a lot of department policy.  There is some fun stuff during orientation.   I did some EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operation Course), which means a lot of fast driving.  There were a couple days on the range and some defensive tactics and some building search practice.  All that stuff is fun, but also a little stressful.  It’s all a test of sorts to see if you can really do the things you supposedly learned in the academy.  For the most part though, its pretty low key.

The actual field training consists of the aforementioned five phases:  Orientation Phase, 1st Phase, 2nd Phase, 3rd Phase, and Shadow Phase.

Orientation Phase lasts about five weeks and is completely non-evaluated.  Which in retrospect…is AWESOME!  Once those they start writing in numbers on your Daily Observation Reports the stress level increases exponentially.  In Orientation Phase you’re kind of like a glorified ride along.  At least for the first couple weeks.  Depending on your FTO he might start throwing you into stuff right away, or ease you into stuff a little towards the end.  Mine was a thrower.  Which was good.  What better time to learn when you aren’t being scored!

Phase One is when you really start getting your hands dirty.  Your FTO is still doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but you’re doing more and more…and making a lot of mistakes.  Oh the mistakes.  Of course, you’re expected to make mistakes, but you’re also expected to not make the same ones repeatedly.  Easier said than done.

In Phase Two the work load should at least be split 50-50 between you and the FTO.  Most likely the FTO is going to let you, and start to expect you, to take the lead on calls.  If you really start to flounder they’ll jump in, but they’ll also let you sink a little to see how you handle it.

By Phase Three the trainee should be handling most calls more or less on their own.  Unless something is totally new, the FTO is probably going to stand back and let you deal with it.  Obviously if something is unsafe, for you, them, or the public, they’re going to jump in.  Mostly though, you need to be handling your business.

Phase Four, or Shadow Phase, you’re basically on your own.  The FTO is still riding with you, but usually in plain clothes.  At this stage you’re the Man.  Or you better be, because if you aren’t a new a line of work is in your future.  I’m a week away from

this stage.  Deep breath.

So that’s a little breakdown of the field training program.  I’ll detail my own experiences for each phase at some point, but I thought I should lay some groundwork.  If you want a little glimpse of what it’s like to be a trainee on FTO, check out the TV show Rookies.  It’s on Watch Instantly if you’ve got Nexflix.  Worth checking out.

Deputized!

FYI: this is not my class

Wow, where to begin?  To say the last four months or so have been eventful would be an understatement to say the least.  The last time I had enough breath to post something I was about a week from graduation from the Academy.  Since graduation I’ve gone to Disneyland, completed three weeks of department orientation, almost caused a career ending crash with another patrol car, taken a sword wielding drunk to jail, written enough reports to choke a sergeant, had two people committed for 5150, got into a vehicle pursuit, worked every possible shift, and passed three phases of FTO.

Somewhere in there I managed to sleep and spend time with my family.  Busy times.

But let’s jump back to graduation.

It was awesome.  Out of 29 graduates there were only four of us in a uniform other than the academy blues.  Two that already work for the state mental hospital but needed their POST certification for new positions, one who is working as a reserve officer for a local police department and me.  So there I was, the only paid member of an agency (who started without a job) out of the 29 graduates, and the 54 possible graduates who began–or joined–this year long journey.  Gotta say, it felt pretty good.  There were times during the ceremony when I’d look down, see my tan and greens, and suddenly remember that I wasn’t dressed the same as most everybody else.  Like I said, it was a good feeling.

For the record, this is by no means meant as a slight to any of my classmates.  There are a lot of good future cops in my class.  It’s just a reflection of the times.  As it is I may be hanging on to my job by the skin of my teeth, depending on how the budgetary winds blow over the next couple months.  But that’s a story for another post.

At any rate, graduation was a great experience, what with the bagpipes, the awards, and hearing my RTOs say they’d see me out on the street.  My class was a close one.  Unusually close, it seems.  In that sense, it was a bittersweet ending.  The chances of all 29 of us, plus our fallen comrades who came to the ceremony, would all be together at once again are pretty slim.  Who knows, maybe a few of us will end up working side-by-side for the same agency, but probably not more than a couple of us, if even that.  So it was a good last chance to be together as a group one last time.

At 5 AM the morning after, I loaded up my family and headed off to the Happiest Place on Earth.  We spent two and a half day with Mickey and friends, then jetted back so I could be ready for my first day as a deputy sheriff trainee.

And that’s when the real fun began.

PROGRAMMING NOTE:  Now that I’ve kinda found a groove with this new gig, I’m going to do my level best to post on a regular basis.  You see a lot of stuff on this job that’s worth writing about and I want to do just that.  For my own sake, and so people get some kind of an idea of police work is like.  I’m obviously still figuring that part out myself, but you can all learn as I learn.  That’s my hope anyway.  Stay tuned.

Endings and Beginnings

Wow, where to begin.  It’s been over a month since my last post and to say a lot has happened between then and now might be the understatement of the year.  When we last spoke, I had just learned that I did well enough on my deputy oral board to pass, but not well enough to move on to the next step, at least not with the other potential deputies.  However, the background process for the dispatcher position was about to be expedited and if some of the potential deputies had problems with their background there was a shot I could get pulled into that group.  I was hopeful, but not overly optimistic.

The background process continued; I had a polygraph exam, my investigator continued to call my friends and family, and he met with my RTOs and looked over my academy file.  My classmate who did pass her oral board kept telling me that I was going to make it.  She’s really like my agent, always talking me up to her investigator and really everyone she came in contact with from the Sheriff’s Office.  Great gal.  But as sure as she was, I was determined to be merely cautiously optimistic at best.  I didn’t want to get myself excited for no reason.

Then on November 3rd, two days before my birthday, I got a call from my background investigator.  And oh what a call.  He told me that I had been officially moved into the deputy pool and pending the passage of the rest of my background stuff the job was mine!  Wow (to say the least).  My head was spinning.  Still is, really.  From that point on the process really racheted up into high gear.  They had to get me and my classmate hired and in the fold by December 2nd (academy graduation day) because the opening was for a deputy trainee and after graduation we would no longer be trainees and we wouldn’t have a job.  Even though we’ll only be trainees for like, a day.  It’s all weird, government gobbely-gook.  So the pedal was really to the metal to get our physicals, agility tests, and psyche exam out of the way, on top of the regular background stuff like calling everyone we’ve ever worked, lived, or spoken with.

Meanwhile, I continued plugging away at the academy.  We finished up PT at the end of October with an eight hour “hell day” of intense physical and mental exertion.  We all survived.  We did our pursuit and emergency driving which was pretty close to the most fun thing we did all year.  It’s not very often someone tells you to drive faster around sharp corners in the rain.  Very fun stuff.  I did well on all my tests, including 100% on the final last night.  And then there were scenarios.  More on this later, as the certainly deserve their own post.

Needless to say, there was a lot going on and my head and time was being pulled in many different directions.  I was looking forward to a little downtime between finishing the academy and starting Field Training.  Two weeks ago today my classmate and I met with both of our BIs and the department personnel sergeant to go over some of the timing of all this stuff.  We knew we had to be hired by December 2nd, but weren’t sure when we’d actually be starting work.  I figured that would be the hire date and then we’d give our two weeks notice.  Wrong!  We were in formed that since we were already County employees, this was really like a promotion rather than a new hire and so we weren’t obligated to give two weeks notice.  We were to start the week after graduation!  My family and I have had a post-graduation trip to Disneyland planned for months, when no jobs were on the horizon and now I was afraid they were going to make me either skip it, or rush back early.  Fortunately the day they told us to report for duty is the day after I return, but my hope of having a few days to regroup have been dashed.  Graduate on Thursday, Disneyland Friday through Sunday, drive home Monday, start work Tuesday morning!  I’ll be savoring these next few days off.

If you had told me even a month ago that I’d be in this position I would’ve said you’re crazy.  But here I am, finishing up one long adventure, and about to embark on another.