First off, let me welcome you to my family of brothers and sisters in the wonderful world of policing. It's not glamorous, it's not always what you think it's supposed to be, and it can be down right challenging at times. Long hours, uncomfortable clothing, oh, and the constant feeling that someone is going to kill you at any given moment. You are gonna love it.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, why don't we address the OTHER elephant in the room… Why are you not a fireman? Eat until you are tired. Sleep until you are hungry. Get paid to play Xbox and make chili, all while hanging out in La-Z-Boy chairs and twin beds. (We all know that they push the bunks together on those long, cold nights… we just don't talk about it.) I’m kidding, you don't wanna be a hose dragger.
Who wants to make more money, get better equipment, and have the public love you for your constant efforts in taking old people to the hospital for shortness of breath and lifting obese people up off of the floor after they fell off of the toilet reaching for the TV remote… Oh, and fires. Lots and lots of REAL fires… (Sarcasm intended…)
In all seriousness, I love my local fire department and I cannot explain how invaluable they are to society as a whole. They are an integral part of this brotherhood we call “First Responders,” even though we make sure the scene is safe first… but I digress…
People have asked me, and it seems like every other IG Cop out there, “How do I prepare for the academy?” I have noticed that it has been more often recently, there must be a hiring bump going around. That might be due to a generation gap, which is totally impacting my current department. I think we figured that over half of our road guys could quit RIGHT NOW and retire with 20+ years on. And then we have another 25-30% of guys with less than a year on the road. And then we have the category that I fall in, the experienced but not yet salty guys. Just the right amount of sarcasm and we still love the job. This is year 8 for me, and I still couldn’t picture myself doing anything else. (And if you haven't figured it out yet, policing is NOT just about chasing bad guys... it's about helping the community you serve, in any way possible.)
So, how DO you get ready for the academy? Well, I can tell you one thing, in Indiana, it’s not horrible, but you definitely wanna show up prepared: physically and mentally.
The physical part really isn't that hard, when you put it into perspective. When most agencies do a hiring process they make you go through a physical testing along with the written testing. The physical, in my experience, has simply been the entrance or exit standards set by the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. When I got hired at my first department, the Boone County Indiana Sheriff’s Office, during the hiring process we performed the test to the EXIT standards, not entrance standards. For those of you interested, I’ve put a link to the ILEA website which lists the physical standards. And for those of you who just saw it, yes it's that easy, and no, I’m not joking. The mile and a half run in under 16:28?! If you are walking quickly you can make that time, let alone running. It's an old standard, along with all the other tests, that has yet to be changed and will probably remain the same for years to come. Oh well. It’s beyond my paygrade to make those decisions, and frankly, I don't wanna be that guy.
If I were to give one piece of advice to a new recruit, or basic student as we were called, I would say just practice the tests, over and over again. Can’t do the required amount of sit-ups? Practice doing sit-ups. Bad runner? Start running, every day. It’s really simple. Don’t pay a whole bunch of money for a gym membership so you can get your bench press up or whatever. Benching isn't pushups. Pushups is pushups and you can do those right next to your couch in between commercials. If you are not good at a certain test, practice it. Again and again, until you can pass it. We aren't looking to set records here, just come prepared.
Unless you ARE wanting to set records, and in that case, you better start training harder. I think the current female pushup record count is over 200. Very impressive. I'm not saying you shouldn't go and try and break every record up there, I’m just saying if you have to ask someone how to prepare for the ILEA physical exam, you probably just need to worry about passing the exit standards.
So, now that we have covered a little bit of the physical portion, let's talk about the mental side of the academy. It’s a bit of a trip being stuck in there, especially if you've been to college and lived in a dorm, because it's a lot like that. But instead of frat rushers storming your room with silly string and socks filled with soap (I’m assuming that’s what happens, I was never a frat guy…) it is the drill instructors waking you up at 04:00 for a morning PT session. So you have that constant anxiety of having to roll out of bed and get screamed at coupled with going to class every day and learning a whole bunch of useless crap that you will never, and I mean NEVER use on the street as a real cop.
I was lucky enough to have my best friend since preschool right across the hall from my room, so it was like Cop Camp to us. After about week 3 or 4, the drill instructors lighten up a bit and will actually talk to you like you are a human and not a “worthless piece of amphibian shit.” (*Full Metal Jacket)
We had some great DI’s that would mess around with us after our initial few weeks of being in the whole “Mini-Bootcamp” experience. In some ways, it is like that, but ALL of my military friends tell me that it was nothing compared to ACTUAL bootcamp. Well, duh. It is not going to exactly the same because it isn't the same job. We are a para-military profession, not the ACTUAL military, so it would be different.
Be prepared to see a lot, and I mean a LOT of videos of cops being killed. They indoctrinate you with that “1 in 4 of you will die in 10 years” and basically try to scare you into being scared of everyone. I think it’s the wrong approach. I mean, yeah, we need to be prepared and realize that literally anyone can kill us. Doesn't matter who they are, but telling an entire recruit class that a quarter of them will be dead in 10 years isn't exactly the best way to say “Welcome to policing!”
There is a lot of studying and paperwork. Tests and practicals. Shooting, driving, physical tactics, physical training, crash reports, hazardous materials. It goes on and on. Biggest piece of advice I could offer when it comes to the tests is two fold.
Take notes on EVERYTHING and pay attention to detail when it comes to those notes. Dont assume you will remember what the acronym OODA means, spell it out. (It is obviously Obese Oppussums Devour Astronauts. Remember that one…)
Get a study guide. It might seem funny, but there were literally DOZENS of study guides floating around the academy when I was there. It made it really simple. Not that the tests are THAT difficult, but it definitely helps. The hardest test is law, hands down. You really gotta study for that one. I cannot stress enough how important the law portion of the academy is.
So overall, the academy is a good time. This was a quick breakdown of what the academy was like for me, and some quick tips and pieces of advice for those going.
I will definitely go into further detail on this topic in some upcoming posts.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
-Logan
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