RE: What Didn't They Teach You in the Academy?

I think the biggest thing I needed to learn on the street was that an arrest is NOT the answer to every confrontation with the police. Learning to talk to people was a key factor in learning that sometimes I could solve long term problems if I listened.

I would really like to gather other hints on what you think should be in an academy. I am putting together our next academy class, and we are redoing it completely. This time, we are looking at it from the competencies end - what skills an officer should have when he graduates the academy - instead of what courses should we teach and make him pass. Our academy is a little different from most in that you have to already be a certified officer to go through it, so we are not restricted to the basic peace officer's curriculum.

Re: What Didn't They Teach You in the Academy?

Well this is a wide open one. The academy only teaches the "basics" need to be a cop. They don't teach you everything you need to know, most of which can only be acquired over time. We (the academy) cannot teach you the smells, and sights an sounds of the crime scene that’s in chaos and you need to bring it all under control and take charge. That is hard to teach.

Its hard to teach you to talk to people in a way that is respectful and polite if you have never been that way in your life. If you are used to being rude and using foul language, its hard to teach that out of you.

Its hard to teach compassion for people. If you were to have to go tell some parent that their 16 year old child was just killed in a car accident because some idiot was drinking and driving, its hard to teach the reality of that.

Its hard to teach you the mindset you need to survive a violent attack where someone is actually trying to beat you to death and you have to defend yourself or die. We can teach you techniques to help you, but that will to live and fight back is not an easy thing to teach, although we will try.

We can't teach that courage you will need to walk in dark places, knowing that someone is out there and they wish to do you harm or kill you. You have to have that already in the hard wiring of your brain somewhere or you have to find it right then or there, or your in the wrong job.

I guess what I am trying to say is what we can't teach you in the academy are those things that make a cop a good cop and one that will survive the bad things that we have to do and see. You have to teach yourself that or already have that in your mind. For years after becoming a cop I would on a daily basis while on patrol tell myself what I would do if this or that happened. I ran through all kinds of things, from being attacked with a knife, to being shot at. I did this for hours over and over. And when one of those "what if's" actually happened, and I had run over it in my mind a thousand times, I actually did what I said I would do. You have to develop a mindset of survival and action. Some call it the warrior mindset, some call it the "bulletproof mind" and my personal favorite - become a sheepdog, but whatever you call it, we can't teach that in the academy, you have to develop it over the years and make yourself into a cop that will be good at what they do, yet able to survive the violence we are confronted with.

Be well, stay safe and remember, the fights not over until your dead...

Last edited @ 6/11/2010 6:36 AM

Cmdr. Chris Wagoner
Police Academy Commander
30+ years and serving..

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