Blog Address Moved

This blog is no longer active and has moved locations.

Update links to:

http://officeryates.blogspot.com/

In memory of my cousin

Charlie Skinner

1978-2008

The policeman stood and faced his God,

which must always come to pass.

He hopes his shoes were shining

just as brightly as his brass.

"Step forward now, policeman.

How shall I deal with you?

Have you always turned the other cheek?

To my church have you been true?"

The policeman squared his shoulders and said,

"No Lord I guess I ain't.

Because those who carry badges

can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,

and at times my talk was rough...

And sometimes I've been violent

because the streets are awful tough.

But I never took a penny

that wasn't mine to keep...

Though I worked a lot of overtime

when the bills just got too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,

though at times I shook with fear.

And sometimes, God forgive me,

I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place

among the people here.

They never wanted me around

except to calm their fear.

If you've a place for me here,

Lord, it needn't be so grand.

I never expected or had too much,

but if you don't... I understand."

There was silence all around the throne

where the saints had often trod,

as the policeman waited quietly

for the judgment of his God.

"Step forward now, policeman.

You've borne your burdens well.

Come walk a beat on heaven's streets.

You've done your time in hell."

My days in Ogden are numbered

Well, after driving for one hour each way back and forth to Ogden for the past year and a half has finally come to an end. Last monday I put my letter of resignation in and my last day working for OPD will be on the 27th.

What does this mean for me? Its an opportunity to work with a different police agency MUCH closer to home. With the economy crumbling I will be better able to save gas money, and get more $ an hour.

I enjoyed my time in Ogden and probably would have stayed there had circumstances been different. However, I feel this is an opportunity I can not pass up on right now.

So...my blog web address has OPD in the title. This will obviously have to change. I will shortly be making a different blog address so stay posted to find out what it is. (Unless someone knows how to change it with people being directed to the right location if they type in the old address. If so...instructions in comment section please.)

Car crashes

I'm sure all of us have been stuck in traffic somewhere just to find out people are just slowing down to look at a car crash. Indeed I've come to find people are fascinated with car crashes. I'm not sure if its the fact that they want to see some injured person lying on the ground or if they just like seeing "TV come to life."

The reason officers give tickets to the public is largely in an effort to prevent car crashes. I've currently been watching the stop sign at 23rd and Monroe boulevard. Monroe is a fairly busy street which has traffic signals through the majority of it. However, at 23rd South it is only a stop sign. Cross traffic has been getting in the habit of only slowing down instead of stopping at the sign.

I recently gave a ticket to one very upset person for running the stop sign at this location. I can understand his frustration. Getting a $100 ticket for doing something stupid makes one have a bad day. My argument is would you rather get a $100 ticket or get in an accident? The accident will cost ten times as much to fix all the repairs and sometimes a lot of physical pain and loss of life. Speeding, not signaling, running signs and lights, etc...every time there is a car crash, someone did something they should not have which caused a crash with someone else who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. An unfortunate victim to someone else's stupidity or lack of safety.

The next time you get a ticket think of these pictures and be more thankful you got a ticket instead of a crash.

The driver of this car was minding her own business when a PT Cruiser thought red lights applied to everyone but himself. She was transported to the hospital with several injuries including a broken wrist.

The PT Cruiser below is the dum dum.

The PT Cruiser was spun 180 degrees, caught the pavement, and flipped over onto its roof. The driver was pinned in the car for several minutes until the fire department cut the passenger door off and extracted him from the car. He was transported to the hospital with several serious injuries.

Above is what the car looked like once it was flipped back over onto its wheels. Engine fluid, glass, and garbage poured out all over the pavement. If you'd like to see the car being flipped over go to the video on my facebook account.(http://vupload.new.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=43053232800)

The driver of this car thought all the drinking they had done the night before had worn off. She believed the misconception that it wears off in only an hour or two.

She had been driving north on Harrison Blvd. She either fell asleep or lost control of her vehicle. While driving north she drifted across the road into on coming traffic. Luckily she hit a parked car on the side of the road and not a head-on collision. However, the impact spun the car around 180 degrees and eventually flipped the car on its side. The fire department cut off the windshield, as shown in the pic, and extracted her through the missing window. In the drunken stupor a seat belt was forgotten. She received may injuries from being tossed around the interior of the car.

The car on the side of the road that she hit was pushed over the sidewalk and onto the front lawn of the home. It was the family's only car and mode of transportation.

Please...leave early, drive slowly, drive defensively, be aware of your surroundings, and always assume the cars around you don't see you.

Things that must go

I podcast a radio program named "X96 Radio from Hell" (for people who feel like hell in the morning) which is a local morning show on 96.3 fm. The radio hosts of this show (Kerry, Bill and Gina) have a bit on their show named, "Things that must go." It is where listeners email lists of different things that bug them or behavior that they want the community to stop doing.

From a police officers point of view I have a few things I wish the public would not do. So if you as readers come across another officer try to keep these things in mind. It does not bug all officers but it is definitely annoying to me...so knock it off.

1. If your kids are misbehaving in public do not say to your kid, "You better stop or that officer is gonna come take you away...see...here he comes" as I walk by. DO NOT teach your children to fear policemen. Not only is it bad parenting its just plan annoying for me to hear everywhere I go. Makes a guy feel great about himself as I send every kid screaming and crying as they run away from me.
2. If you happen to be the unfortunate soul that is pulled over by an officer wait for him to approach your window before you start opening your glove box and rifling around the ginormous stack of papers looking for your registration and insurance. I understand you are only thinking a head but officers think differently. They don't know if you are a soccer mom or a felon on the run. Officers have safety on their mind at all times and will always look to see if you are reaching for a gun. Keep BOTH hands on the steering wheel as they approach the car. Then do as instructed if told to get your paperwork.
3. CLEAN OUT YOUR GLOVE BOXES! You only need the current years insurance and registration. It is absolutely okay to throw away (shred) old registrations and proof of insurance cards. I had a guy hand me a registration from 1999 the other day! If there are only the two up to date papers in the glove box there won't need to be any rifling through papers and you won't go through the embarrassment of the officer seeing your hand shake as you hold each paper wondering what you need to give him.
4. Don't say, "What seems to be the problem officer?" Not only does it make you seem clueless its just plain cliche to say anymore these days. The officer will usually start to tell you anyway.
5. Don't give attitude or debate with the officer about the reason for the stop. Officers have discretion about whom they issue citations to. Obviously if you treat the officer poorly expect to get a citation in return.
6. If by chance an officer starts to approach you don't attempt the joke, "I didn't do it!" or "I'm innocent" or "He did it" has you point to a friend and lift your hands in the air in mock gun point. I can't begin to tell you how many people say this. Not funny and over played people.

Just a few ideas and suggestions for you to digest. Who knows...maybe it just might change the outcome of your day.

Getting Tazed

Watching this still makes me hurt and laugh. Also known as "riding the white lightening" this bad boy shocks you with 50,000 volts of electricity. The purpose is to stop the brain from being able to send messages to the rest of the body thus making an officer able to gain control of a combative suspect. The people to each side of me are to make sure I don't fall flat on my face which would have happened had they not been there.

I'm told the reason is so that I know what it feels like to be tasered. That way if I ever go to court I can explain that I've experienced this before and I was not using excessive force. I understand the logic behind this reasoning. However, my argument is I don't need to be shot by my own gun to know that it hurts. ;-)

Being Cautious

So its been forever and a day since I've typed anything at all on my blog. Its mostly due to the fact that I'm being careful. Obviously I can't give names or specific information about what occurs. With everything I handle there is potential for it going to trial. If I give too specific information I could cause a mistrial and let a criminal go free because his right to privacy was violated.

So I think I'll keep things vague and talk more about insights and observations I have while on duty. “Through the eyes of an officer.” I find most people are curious about police work and always seem to have a plethora (yes...a plethora) of questions about what goes on for a normal day and what things I've handled.

So here is me giving this another go. I'll answer the questions I've been asked the most. Yes, I've pulled my gun on someone, yes I've fired my weapon in the line of duty (not what you think. Had to put down a deer that was hit by a car), no I've never tazered anyone, yes I've been in fights and tackled people, yes I've been in foot and vehicle pursuits, yes I've seen a dead body (on several occasions) etc etc.

The other question I've been asked is what does the 10-41 and 10-42 mean at the beginning and end of each posting. Officers use whats called the “10 code” while using the radio. It keeps traffic to a minimum and gets the message across faster and easier to understand then common speech. 10-41 is “beginning tour of duty” and 10-42 is “ending tour of duty.” Basically when a person starts and ends their assigned shift for the day.

Currently I work squad 2. Its weekend days with every squad have a swing shift for their last day. I work four 10 hour days. Fri-Sun 630 to 430 and Monday 300 pm to 100 am. Since living so far away it makes for a long day waking up at 445 each day to be ready for work and arrive on time. I'm currently assigned what is considered one of the worst areas of the city (and considering the city its humorous to me that there are worse areas then others.) I cover from 20th Street south to 30th Street and Washington Blvd east to Monroe Blvd. Smack in the middle of the city where a lot of the action is.

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer them.

Busy Busy Busy

10-41

Last night the city of Ogden blew up with crime. And on a Thursday too...don't they know to wait until the weekend.

The day first started with our PT test. We had to do the bench press, push ups, sit ups, vertical jump, and 1 1/2 mile run. Passed everything no problem. Did the mile and a half in 11:58. However, afterwards many people were sore and wobbly on there legs.

Just in time for one vehicle pursuit, 5 foot pursuits, and one armed robbery. They all happened within a couple hours of each other too.

Just leaving the station (I was driving) I was at the light of 22nd and Washington. While waiting a call on the radio said he was in pursuit of a wanted felon heading south on Washington approaching 21st street. Right place at the right time. Pulled forward to clear the intersection then took over the number two car position. Good thing my FTO was in the car with me. Its the job of the 2nd car to radio the direction of the pursuit so the lead car can focus on driving. So my FTO called the radio moves for my while I drove. Pursued for about a minute or so when he drove into a driveway and bailed on foot. We chased him into his apartment building. We secured a perimeter around the building and called for a K9 unit. He refused to come out so the k9 unit went in after him biting him repeatedly in the stomach. Once the k9 was released so officers could go hands on to arrest him he kicked one of them in the balls. Due to his struggle while arresting and assault on an officer he was then tasered for a 5 second ride on the white lighting. It was awesome! We finally got him in cuffs.

He was running because he had 15 felony warrants out for his arrest. We think he swallowed drugs while running because his heart rate was over 180 beats per minute so we rushed him to the hospital. Some thought he might die in custody but luckily the hospital did their magic and kept him alive.

And that was just the first thing of the night! I assisted in 5 other foot pursuits! For some reason everyone decided to run from police last night. It was crazy. We caught all 5 people though. It was so busy with priority calls I didn't write a single speeding ticket (still on traffic).

DONT MESS WITH O-TOWN BABY!

10-42

Traffic...ick.

10-41

The past week I've been working in the traffic division. It isn't the most exciting area on the department. I pretty much write speeding tickets all day unless there is a car crash somewhere. Then we go handle the accident scene and do all the paper work for it. We also do DUI's. I've arrested 3 people for DUI so far.

That I don't mind. If you're dumb enough to drive DUI then I'm going to bust you! Thankfully the people I've arrested for it haven't been in a crash where they've killed somebody. So far they've just been running into trees and side rails etc.

I'm definitely not going to hold out for a traffic position when my FTO phase is over with. Way to boring with a ton of down time. Plus all the paper work on traffic is the only stuff left that is still done by hand. I'd rather use the computer and write up reports for other stuff besides speeding.

I refuse to be the cop that plays the guessing game with people though. "Excuse me mam, but do you have any idea how fast you were going?" "Do you know the speed limit on this street?" etc. I just cut to the chase and get it over with. Most of the time they know they were speeding anyway and are just blowing smoke at me anyway.

"Mam, Officer Yates with Ogden Police. I've pulled you over for your speed. You were going 55 in a 35 mph zone. I just need your....etc"

I'd say the thing that is the hardest so far is remembering what paper work to fill out and when for which thing that has happened. Since it isn't computerized its hard to keep track of everything and which box to check, opposed to shade in, opposed to leave blank for situation A but fill it for situation B.

This week is my last 4 days of traffic and then I'll move on to the next phase. It'll be back to regular patrol but the grave yard shift. 9 pm to 7 am. I'll be getting off of work just in time to drive back home in the middle of rush hour traffic. At least if I fall asleep at the wheel it won't be a high speed crash. It'll just be bumper to bumper and I'll wake up to roll a few feet forward.

Hopefully Aleca will be done with school here in the next few weeks and we'll be able to move back up closer to Ogden at the end of December or early Jan sometime.

10-42

Two Weeks Down

10-41

Well, I've been working for full time as a police officer for about two weeks now and already I've seen my fare share of things. My shift has been 3:00 pm to 1:00 am.

My third day I was involved in a vehicle pursuit. It was pretty intense. We spiked all four tires and had 8 K9 units on the scene. He was a wanted felon with a gun (he'll be in federal prison for a minimum of 5 years just for the gun, not including felony evading)

I've had to pull my gun and drawn down on a guy, I've searched a ladies van for drugs, I've arrested two people (one for public intox and the other for aggravated assault), and pulled over multiple cars for various violations.

So far its everything I expected it to be. Depending on the call there can be a lo of paper work which sucks. I basically have to write down what happened almost as if I'm writing a book, except I have to remember minute details and quotes from the different people involved.

I'm one FTO officers down and 4 to go. My next two weeks I'll be with traffic. I'll be pulling cars over and giving them tickets for various things but every now and then I'll get to do a DUI or stop a guy with warrants. I'm not too excited to be writing tickets all night but it won't be too bad.

10-42

First few days on the job

10-41

I've started my first week. I'm with he K-9 unit for the first two weeks of my FTO (Field Training Operation). Its been pretty fun.

I can't give too much detail in case any of these go to trial so I'm being brief on purpose.

My shift is from 3:00 pm to 1:00 am. This shift it particularly busy because that's when everyone gets home from work. A bunch of car accidents and people coming home and drinking getting pissed at everyone, or finding out there apartment was robbed while at work at the local fast food place, etc.

My first call we went to was a car accident. A lady had some sort of medical problem and passed out at the wheel. She ended up rear ending a lady, plowing through an intersection hitting the traffic light pole, then continuing through a yard and ran into a tree. Pretty intense for the first thing. Medical came and grabbed her while we got a tow truck to get rid of the car (busted front axle, not drivable).

The rest of the evening was going to burglar alarms and domestic violence calls where parents were fighting with kids, etc.

Last night was pretty busy too. There was a guy so drunk he couldn't continue walking down the street. When we pulled up to talk to him he was sitting down, but was wobbling even while sitting. He was only a couple of houses away from his moms house which is where he was going but just decided to stop and rest for a little bit. Pretty funny to hear him slurring his words and stuff. He was pretty out of it.

Another call was a Domestic Violence (DV). A lady had gotten angry at another guy for an unknown reason and hit him in the head with a brick. Blood was everywhere. Weird though because he didn't want to press charges.

Another call was an aggravated assault. A roommate wanted rent to be paid, but the other not having money threatened him with a knife and said he would kill him. Guy ran for his life and called us. We showed up and had a description of the guy we where looking for. He answered the door but said his name was different. He invited us in to see if we could find the guy we where looking for. Took forever to answer the door. Turns out he didn't have ID. In Spanish I heard him tells the other guys in the house to call him a different name. I played stupid to the fact I understood them and continued to listen to their story. Eventually we found his wallet and I translated what I knew to the other officers. Arrested him for a ton of stuff. False info to police, agg. assault/DV, found drug paraphernalia etc. That one was pretty fun.

I'm slowly catching on to everything. Its amazing how much stuff there is to learn that the academy didn't show us or teach us. I'm just nervous during this first few weeks. I started with 10 guys in my group hen I first got hired and only 6 are left. Guys keep telling me to be careful because they don't hesitate to fire someone during the FTO program if they aren't cutting it.

Hope all goes well.

10-42

I'm Official

10-41

Just a quick update.

Today was the Law Enforcement certification test. Basically when all is said and done I could do awesome the entire time I was in POST and not pass this last test and lose my job.

Two hours later I PASSED!

94%! Second highest score in the class. Graduation is Friday Oct 19th at 11:00am

Go me!

10-42

First Responder to Robbery

10-41

The academy is wrapping up. I only have about a week and a half before graduation on Oct 19th. So its been harder to get posts written here.

A little while back a women was beaten and robbed right across from our apartment. It was about 5:30 a.m. when I heard a man screaming for help and to call 911. Not quite sure what I was thinking but i went running outside to see if I could help. Outside I discovered a women with half her face smashed in with blood everywhere. Her eyes where swollen shut and her face was already swollen and hard to recognize any features. She was choking on her own blood and her boyfriend was freaking out.

Thats when I noticed his gun on the sidewalk. I asked him who it belonged to. He said he has a permit for it and grabbed it when he heard his girlsfriend screaming. I told the women to roll on her side and spit out the blood as it filled her mouth or she would have a hard time breathing and would eventually throw up. There was another women their on the the phone with dispatch and I heard her say she could see a gun at the scene.

I started asking her if she could feel her hands and feet and see if she could move them. I couldn't compare pupil size to check for head trauma because one was totally swollen shut but by the looks of her I had no doubt of a concusion. She didn't know what happened or how she got there, what day or time it was and she even had to think for a while to tell me what her name was. She was in pretty bad condition.

Then I told the boyfriend I would watch her and told him he should go put the gun away. He started to object but I showed my badge as an off duty officer and when the police got there if he didn't get it put away they would first suspect him of beating or shooting her. He ran back into his apartment and put it away and was coming back out as the first officer arrived.

The first question he asked her is where had she been shot. (Told ya boyfriend dude!) They had origionally been dispatched to a shooting because of what the lady on the phone had told them. Once I explained what I knew from first arriving he took over the scene and medical took the lady to the hospital.

They think what happened was she was on her way to work. When she got outside a person hit her in the face with a bat or metal pipe, pulled her into the bushes and took her purse. Who ever did it knew her routine and that she would be there at 530 in the morning and is most likely a resident of the apartment complex.

It made channel 5 news. If you cut and paste the link you can see the report. I'm the skin head looking guy in a black jacket and the blonde lady is the one who called 911 and freaked out over the gun.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1864886

10-42

Lest We Forget

10-41

Today marks the sixth year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on American soil killing almost 3000 innocent people. Its a tragedy that will never be forgotten.

Among those 3000 were many police and fire fighters. They courageously ran forwards into the chaos while everyone else ran away. In doing so they saved many lives while paying the ultimate sacrifice and lost their own.

Today at POST we had a memorial service to remember the fallen and to show that we are ready to pick up where it was left off in serving and protecting the American people.

The memorial was very moving. The UHP color guard performed our flag ceremony and sang the National Anthem. We had two different speakers from people that have been in the service for almost 40 years. Then a drum line and bagpipes came in and played Amazing Grace while there was a 21 gun salute and fly by from a plane and helicopter. Pretty awesome service.

The whole thing was covered by Fox 13 News . There are two different videos. The first video I'm in the background lined up with all the officers but I'm too far away to be seen. The Lt. that gave the interview is my Lt. at POST. Really awesome guy. The second shows the 21 gun salute and some of the service. For the second video click on Related videos to the side of the viewing screen from the link.

http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=4324765&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Medical Update:

Many have asked whats going on with the weird medical crap I had a few weeks back. Hate to disappoint but nothing much. When I was originally checked at the hospital they were checking to see if it could be any of the things involving the brain that could kill me or seriously screw me up. After a long day and huge bill they told me all the major stuff came back negative. However they couldn't tell me the cause of the headaches. For that I had to meet with a neurologist. The one they referred me to said he was not taking any more new patients. So I haven't been to another doctor yet. However, I haven't had the headaches anymore either. A time or two since during PT I could feel one coming on but they never really develop into anything. Hard to explain really. I figure since I don't have them anymore and whatever caused them it won't kill me I'd have a hard time explaining the whole thing to the brain doc without it happening on a regular basis. When I'm done with POST I'll look into getting it checked out. Until then I just can't afford missing anymore days from class when it isn't necessary.

Thanks for the concern and prayers on my behalf. It must have worked cause everything seems to be fine now.

Yates 10-42

10-80 Pursuit in Progress!!!

10-41

I've been getting a little busy so it's getting harder to keep this updated. School has started so in a sense with POST and with part time school I'm a "full-time-and-a-half" student.

A little while back we had our first night shoot. Was pretty interesting. My gun has night sights on it that glow in the dark so you can see where you're aiming. We did a 50 round prep course to get us ready for the night qualification. Half with a flashlight and half without. The furthest back you shoot from during the night qual. is 15 yards. Each shot within the center mass on the target is worth 5 points and each shot still on the target but outside the center mass range is 4 points. One needs 200 points to qualify. I scored 221. So if it had been the real night qual. I would have passed with no problems.

For a week we've been out at the Emergency Vehicle Operations range (EVO). We've been learning how to drive like a cop. Believe it or not there is a lot of things you have to know when driving in a police car. It isn't as simple as drivers ed. We went through an evasive action course where driving between the speeds of 35-60 mph you make multiple maneuver's through an obstacle course of cones. For the qualification you can't hit a single one. The cool part was making three high speed lane changes, popping off the curb and back on again and then coming to an abrupt complete stop at the skid ramp at the end all while doing 60mph. Pretty awesome. Then there is a skills course where you have to do several backing maneuver's, more lane changes, four quick back and forth turns (kinda like skiing), more parking...then do the whole thing again backwards. The cones are only spread out about the width of the car plus two or three inches so there is VERY little room for error. That course you had to complete in 2 min 3 sec without hitting a single cone.

There was also a skid pad. We weren't tested on it. We did it just to get use to the feeling of spinning out of control and how to recover from it. They had a big parking lot with sprinklers all around to keep it wet. We had to approach a line of cones with an opening on each side at 35 mph. At the last minute the instructor in the passenger seat would tell you right or left and as you turned he stomps on the breaks he has on his side of the drivers ed car and away you go. It was pretty fun doing 360's and even a 720 while trying to recover from the spin.

Today we learned how to maneuver turns quicker so we can actually gain time and speed while going around corners during a pursuit. The whole thing is getting us ready for a mock night pursuit each of us will do. An instructor takes off and you have to chase him down in a squad car. However, the course has random obstacles through it like wild life, construction and intersections which other instructors will be driving through. I'll have to maneuver safely around everything while using the radio to let "others" know the direction the suspect is heading etc. Sounds like its going to be pretty cool.

So far so good. Off to homework.

Yates 10-42

"Go ahead punk...make my day."

10-41

Today was the day we've all been waiting for. We spent 8 hours on the shooting range. It was awesome. The sunscreen was a little uncomfortable and the heat sucked but we got to shoot our guns!

Surprisingly I did pretty good. When I first started Ogden had me do a gun certification which was pointless because I had no gun training. Needless to say I failed miserably and felt like poop. Today we got taught the basics for about three hours. Then we fine tuned our skills and shot live rounds the rest of the day. Speaking in my most humble opinion I was freakin awesome.

There is a term called "key hole" which basically means when you shoot the target and then the next shot goes through that same hole almost exactly like the previous. In other words, there are two bullet holes right on top of each other with only a slight variation. On four different occasions I key holed my shots. There was even a time where there were six key holed shots on one target center mass! I had to have bragging rights for that one. A few in the class even came and looked just to prove I wasn't blowing smoke. The instructor even gave me props for it. Pretty cool.

Another thing to make it just an awesome day is I put on sunscreen every hour so I didn't even get sunburned! A Yates first!

Its a good thing I had such a good day today because last Friday sucked beyond words. For the past couple of PT sessions I have been getting some seriously bad headaches that come on very suddenly. To the point where I start to see spots and almost black out from the pain. Well, I just couldn't hide it anymore from the instructors and continue on with the PT. I had to say something. Of course they sent me to a doctor to get it checked out. Well, a normal doctors office doesn't have things to look at the brain so I had to go drop a $100 co-pay and go to the ER.

The doc sits me down and tells me a couple things. First he says its possibly the beginning of a brain aneurysm where there is a slight leak in the artery that leads to the brain. Because of the high blood flow while working out the pressure builds up in my head. If the vessels were to ever pop or explode because of excessive strain it could kill or paralyze me. Awesome right? So he tells me they'll do a bunch of tests and figure out if it is a brain aneurysm. If so they would then have to do emergency surgery on my brain and snip the veins leading to the leak and everything would be hunky dory...except for the fact that if it does indeed come to that I get kicked out of POST for missing too many days due to health and Ogden fires me because I'm not healthy enough to do the job. So for about four hours as I sat waiting for the tests to start I was near panic and hyperventilation (thanks for the genes dad).

Finally they performed a Cat Scan (sp?). Very weird procedure. After waiting forty minutes for the results it turns out it sees nothing. Everything appears to be normal. However, the doc says they are only 90% accurate and since I am so young and have a long full life ahead of me 90% accurate just isn't good enough and wants to do a spinal tap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a word of advice for those that ever have to get one of these done. DON'T EVER LOOK AT THE NEEDLE! That puppy was freaking ginormous! They numb the area the needle goes in so you don't feel it. The only bad part is it goes through an entire blob of nerve endings so various parts of your body are screaming in pain while the needle is going in. Very weird feeling when the needle is first going in. It made my left leg jump and twitch and I had no control over it. Really bizarre. Then once the nerve endings get hit its ouchy time. It was like getting tazed all over again. Except for the fact that he had to stick me 3 huggin' times!

Seriously I can still feel in my spine right where he went three days later. Anywhoo...after waiting an hour for those results they came back no blood on the brain everything is fine.

Official diagnosis: We don't know what is causing the headaches but what ever they are they won't kill you. Call a neurologist. Gee...thanks. By the time I was done and out of the ER the day was over. I missed the first DT of the LEO block where they teach all the new moves and I missed traffic stops and procedures.

So I have to set up another doc apt. Until then the jury is out and I still have headaches. The doc even said the spinal tap would make my headaches worse until my body can replace the lost fluid. And whadaya know they did. They hooked me up with some cool drugs to help.

However, on the bright side I'm not dieing and I can still work. Which lead to the awesome shooting day I had. It's all smooth sailin' from here.

Yates 10-42

SFO Certification

Yates 10-41

Today had the potential of being my last day at POST. The first block has come to an end. Today was the tests to certify as an SFO Officer. If I failed any one test I am not allowed to continue at POST.

First we had to pass a PT test. It was the same as the entry test just the minimum requirements are bumped up a little. Passed everything just fine. I can't remember what I did on my entry. However today I jumped 24 inches, 40 sit ups in a minute, 30 consecutive push ups without stopping and ran the mile and a half in 12:39. I know on my entry I ran it in 13 and a half to 14 min (something like that). So I improved on the run.

The next test was the defensive tactics (DT). We had to go through every move of every hand lock, hold and throw along with terry stop and felony prone searches. The test had 149 points possible. Passed no problem with 147 out of 149. The two points that I missed were nit-picky in my opinion but I'm not bitter. 99% is good enough for me.

The last test was a written 100 question test covering all the book work we've gone through in class. This was probably the hardest part of the testing series. It covered all the Utah Criminal Code plus the 10 Code and Police Alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta etc). The questions got pretty specific and we had to know the details of the majority of the Utah Criminal Code book. I think to just piss us off a little bit they throw in a good chunk of trick questions where because of one word or verb tense it made the statement true instead of false, none of the above instead of all of the above and vice versa. Those kinds of tests just piss me off. Don't make it harder than it already is. Just test us on the knowledge instead of throwing in all these curve balls just to see if we're gonna notice or not. To pass we need to get 80% on everything. I passed the written portion with the skin on my teeth. I could only miss twenty questions and I missed 15. Too close for comfort in my opinion. 5 questions made the difference of employed and unemployed. Yikes. 84.7% was my official score.

Congrats to me being SFO certified! Some others weren't so lucky. One person didn't pass the PT test, three didn't pass the DT test and four didn't pass the written test. I'd hate to be in their shoes tonight. It's pretty sad to know they've been working so hard for almost 6 weeks and not passing. Some of them I've come to be good friends with too.

Tomorrow begins the LEO block. What better way to start than with Man Down PT. Yippy.

Yates 10-42

One Month Down...three to go

10-41

Time is going by really fast. I can't believe a month has gone by already.

In the academy there are two blocks or sections of classes one is the Special Functions Officer (SFO) which is what I'm in and the second half is Law Enforcement Officer (LEO). I only have one more week of SFO then the week after is test week. We get tested on all the class room crap we've been going over which is a bunch of case law. Some was interesting some was boring. We also get tested on all our Defensive Tactics (DT) that we've learned to date. Then we get tested on our Physical Training (PT).

The PT has been kicking my butt but I'll be ready for it. The classroom stuff isn't too hard to remember. We have been taking weekly quizes on all the past material covered and I've been averaging 94.6% on all of them. Although yesterday I did get my first 100% test! It was on CPR and First Aid. Go me!

Once SFO is over with is when the real fun starts with the LEO block. Thats when we start our gun training and driving cars and more of the hands on practice "in the field." Everyone is looking forward to it. We can wear our belt and equipment etc.

So far so good
Yates 10-42

1...2...3...ONE! 1...2...3...TWO!

They are defenitely getting us in shape. Every other day we have Physical Training, which is also known as PT. For some reason in the Law Enforcement world they love acronyms.

For our first PT exercise we did a work out called "Man Down." It is designed for you to be able to push with all the energy you have giving 100% for a period amount of time. Potentially if there was an officer down we'd be in the shape we need to be to get to him and give him back up or first aid. After doing the exercise we realized the "man down" was actually us. The routine kills you. You have no energy when you're done. The instructors goal is to make you throw up by the end of the exercise. Needless to say I've stopped eating breakfast.

Man Down

• 100 Air Squats
• 30 box jumps
• 30 push ups
• 30 sit ups
• 30 burpees
• standing jump for 100 feet
• 800 meter sprint
• Drag a man 50 feet
• 10 push ups
• Drag the man back the 50 feet
• 10 push ups

Trust me. This is freakin hard! And I should add the cadet I had to drag was the biggest in the class. 6'3'' 230 lbs. The captain holds the record time. 14 min 3 sec. Now I wasn't in the greatest of shape since this was also my first PT. My time was 28 min 30 sec

Fridays training:

• 50 Push ups
• 50 Sit ups
• 50 Air squats
• 1 mile run (half way is up hill)
• Repeat all the above one more time

The captain also has the record for this. (If you haven't guessed the captain is a PT freak. Buff dude) His time 24 min 26 sec. My time 38 min 19 sec. What made it hard was being sore from the man down exercise two days before. Also, we did air squats right before the run so our legs are jello running the whole time.

Might I also add no one is aloud to stop....ever. Stopping to walk is quitting. Stopping to walk is not giving 100% effort 100% of the time. There could be an officer in trouble after being totally spent from fighting for my own life and we need to be able to get him to safety. Stopping is not an option.

Don't miss understand this narrative for complaining. I'm loving this. It's what I've always wanted to do. I'm simply letting you know what I'm going through. If it was easy everyone would be doing it or we would be in dangerous situations on the job when my back up can't hack it.

Week one down. 14 more to go. I'm gonna go run even though its a saturday. That way I won't be stiff for the PT on monday.

Weber 1 A2F Yates 10-42

"For your safety and mine do not move. Do you understand me?"

It's been really crazy this past little while. The first two weeks were really over whelming. My big mistake was the first weekend into the new job we moved. Getting everything packed up lifting things and moving things on top of all the physical stuff was exhausting.

Ogden does things a little different because they are a different city to work for. They say one year of experience in "O" town is the same as three years somewhere else. Its just really busy and you get to see everything really quick. So before we go to the actual POST police academy we go to a little mini academy put on by Ogden City.

The very first day we got sworn in, issued our gun, badge, and all our equipment. The week has been a little mixed. Sometimes I feel I'm in a college class and other times its really interesting. The past year Ogden's violent crimes has sky rocketed. Most places have an officer involved shooting once a year if that. Last year in Ogden they had six. The officers that were involved in the shooting have been some of the guys training us. It's been pretty crazy listening to their stories and sometimes being able to see the actually gun fight from the dash-cam of their patrol car.

I think it was after seeing the video that everything kinda sunk in for me. I knew it was a dangerous job and that I could get hurt but it seemed more real now.

We've gone through a lot of stuff. Everything from how to do felony stops, searches arrests, gun certification, baton certification, arresting procedures, and different holds and throws. Its a lot of information to absorb.

We also had to get certified in OC (also known as mace or pepper spray) and tasers. The OC wasn't that bad but I also didn't get a straight shot to the eyes. We just stood against a wall and they sprayed it to the side of us so we really just got misted. It made us blink a little and disrupted our breathing but that was it. Nothing like the eyes swelling shut and having to decontaminate with running cold water for 15 minutes.

The taser was something completely different. When someone gets tased two little harpoons shoot into the person and they get shocked for 5 seconds. For us they didn't want us getting punctured so they taped the prongs to us and we all got zapped for one second instead of five. HOLY S&*! it KILLED!!!!!! The one second felt like five. Every muscle clenches up and feels like it is on fire. The worst pain that I have felt in a long time. I can't imagine getting the whole five second ride. My head felt like it was gonna explode. I hope I never have to go through it again.

The next day or two we are going to simulate making a felony stop and getting everyone out of the car and properly arrested and searched etc. Then Monday will be my first day of POST. I'm a little nervous but the quicker I start the quicker I can finish and start on the Officer Training program (FTO).

Peace out yo,
Tommy Boy