Hazing and Rites of Passage

mtarte @ 8/9/2009 10:53 AM

Excellent article. I became a cop over 30 years ago and had a short FTO program. I was held at arm's length until I proved my mettle in bar fights, family dust-ups and the like. When an old time cop who came on board in the mid-1950s walked up to me one day after I had talked down a barricaded suicide attempt and told me that was a "good job" I felt like I could walk on water and had won the lottery. His praise was more important to me, and still is, than all of the formal commendations in my career combined. Having been accepted by him meant I was accepted by all. After that, I wasn't an FNG any more, though I still had to pour coffee for the old timers and they got the best cars, it didn't matter, I had arrived. That cadet in the academy is not going to have a very long or good career if he cannot do the defensive tactics needed for this job. If HR gets involved and they force the academy to let him simulate DT rather than actually go hands-on, I hope his time in FTO is short and his termination long.