Otero Junior CollegeLaw Enforcement Training

ORIENTATIONDAY 1

Welcome

• PURPOSE OF THIS ACADEMY Professional training for the kind of officer you would want responding to an emergency call from your family.

- Thoroughly trained and current - Focused on curing problems with

intelligence and discretion - Prepared to use appropriate physical force

when appropriate

WEAPONS

• DOES ANYONE HAVE AMMUNITION ON YOUR PERSON NOW?

• IS ANYONE ARMED?• NO WEAPONS OR AMMUNITION IN HOUSING

- Discuss bringing weapons from home late at night with the director.

• WEAPONS WILL BE STORED IN VAULT• AMMUNITION STORED IN LOCKERS• WEAPONS IN VEHICLES ONLY TO AND

FROM RANGE

BADGES

• ACADEMY STUDENTS WILL NOT WEAR BADGES. - Your authority to wear a badge may

exist; keep it out of this judicial district while attending the academy;

Bent, Crowley and Otero Counties- If you have a local commission please discuss this with your supervisor and the academy director.- Badges are targets…....

- off duty carry safety procedures

CONCEALED CARRY PERMITS

• No OJC student (academy or otherwise) is permitted to carry a weapon:

- Neither concealed or in plain view.

- Do not carry a weapon on ride-alongs.

- Reserve officers or posse members will contact director before serving armed.

TRAINING SCHEDULE

• POST Academy Certification based on schedule

• 700+ training hours in 90 days or 16 weeks.

• Intensive 6 day work week with some two-day breaks and a longer midterm break.

• Schedule posted on classroom east wall shows all changes and special notices. Keep an eye on that schedule.

• Discard your packet schedule and use the 3-hole punched schedule you receive today.

• Please be in the classroom 10 to15 minutes before the work day starts with the 8:00AM class

• Return to your seat and be ready to go before the end of each break and lunch period

• Sliding in at the last second doesn’t allow you to get your mind focused on the session

• A late student disrupts other members of the class in the process of taking their coat off, getting their books out and getting organized.

ATTENDANCE• All skill hours are absolutely mandatory• Academic missed hours must be made up:

- Written paragraph outlining and summarizing the material covered while absent. - Due within 5 days of the absence.

• All absences must be noted in the sign – in sheet.

• Student Request for Excused Absence must be submitted to director before absence or on first day back.

IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION

• Jury summons or scheduled medical appointment must have 5 day pre-approval with director.

• Students must immediately call the Academy telephone (719) 384-6867 and leave an emergency message and then call the Director at home (719) 254-3475 and talk to the Director personally – not to his home answering machine or his teenager – talk to the Director. Two calls – very important.

EXCUSED vs. UNEXCUSED ABSENCES

EXCUSED• “pre-approved”, for anticipated absences • “emergency”, for unanticipated absences.

UNEXCUSED• Failure to pre-approve scheduled absences• Failure to immediately notify• Failure to do make-up work

• I am manic about “immediate contact” because when a student doesn’t show up without explanation, everything stops until the reason for the absence is found. We don’t know if you have had an accident and are upside down in a bar ditch – that happened to an earlier academy student. Don’t make the mistake of “forgetting” to call and causing the whole class and the instructor to look for you.

• Justifiable emergency absences are family or medical (sick, including family) emergencies only and only with immediate contact and proper justification. However, other situations arise and if they do, contact me.

• Everyone is late for “good Samaritan” reasons from time to time – don’t make a habit of using “roadside assistance” as an excuse for being late to class. Instructors see your absence or arriving consistently late and they tell prospective employers that you had a problem getting to class and most likely will have problems getting to work – not good.

CONSEQUENCES

• The Director has the discretion to subtract one percentage point (1%) from the academic average for:- 1% off for each hour of “unexcused” absence.- 1% off for each instance of tardy.- 1% off for each instance of failure to prepare for class.- 1% off for each instance of failure to participate.

• Understand that points can only be taken after you have had adequate time to adjust and then only after a number of warnings. (This is one of this warnings)

• Every student admitted to this academy has proven their strong desire to become a peace officer and that is why it is extremely rare for any student to lose points for unacceptable behavior.

• This is not a big deal so just do what you are supposed to do and losing academic points will be the furthest thing from your mind.

CRJ 175 CLASSES

• Academy students are not excused from registering in and participating in CRJ 175 classes: TASER, OC Spray, 1st Aid, SFST, Command Spanish, Anti-Bias Policing and Career Management.

• You may have invented the TASER or are an EMT or registered nurse; however, when a student misses a training session the class “tempo” gets out of whack and it is hard to maintain a teamwork spirit.

DRESS REQUIREMENTS• SHIRTS:

OJC Law Academy shirt or a plain gray or navy colored “laundry day” substitute shirt classroom. (plain means no writing or graphics)

• PANTS:Black or navy blue twill uniform or BDU pants are the academy pant. You

may wear either the “bloused” BDU or traditional “cuffed” BDU or trouser depending on your choice of foot ware.

• SHOESYou have a choice of a black leather oxford or duty boot foot ware. Shine

able shoes will be shined.• Physical conditioning requires gym or workout type clothing.• Skill training (Driving, Firearms and Arrest Control) is more effective if the training is

done wearing as close to what you will wear on the street. The first day of each class is lecture so wear you classroom uniform and a polo shirt. The instructor will tell you what to wear for field training. Dress appropriately for the weather.

• GRADUATION: Men wear kakis pants, long sleeve white shirt, dark colored forehand tie and well polished shoes. Women wear kakis skirts or pants, white blouses and dark shoes. The same clothing you will use for the Mock Oral Board class

• Contact me if you have not had your fingerprints done on a POST background fingerprint card and mailed to CBI in Denver.

• POST requires that you submit those prints before the academy starts and we can get them in the mail today.

• Shirts are on the way – will be here at the end of the week.

• Wear your academy shirt and BDU when possible.

• Fist fights – Bullying –

• Tolerance (If you outwardly show intolerance here, then you don’t belong on the street)

• Vulgarity

• Respect Janitor – Trash Pick-up

• Cigarette Butts

• Breaks – Please don’t leave ½” in the coffee pot without making for the next guy or tell me.

• Coffee or water only in classroom – no pop, food, snacks, chew – leave that for break. (Gatorade? NO)

• No spit cups within 100 miles of the classroom. Classrooms and housing are tobacco free.

STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT

• Students are required to observe the following rules of conduct from the first day of class, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week until you graduate.

• It is the duty of each student to observe all Otero Junior College and OJC Law Academy policies, rules, regulations, and this Code of Conduct.

• It is the duty of each and every student to inform the Director and the immediate instructor concerning violations of any rule, policy or code, and any “bullying,” “hazing” or acts that could be termed harassment, disruptive or a hindrance to learning.

• The instructor will remedy any unprofessional classroom behavior and report the incident to the Director.

• Students attending this academy will abstain from the misuse of drugs or alcohol or any combination to the extent that they become “under the influence,” as defined in Colorado statute.

• Students will not use vulgarity, obscene gestures or slurs relating to race, sex, religion, gender, personal appearance or mental or social capabilities. Students will further refrain from any type of “locker room humor” or any offensive action, verbal or non-verbal that is termed or defended as a “joke” or minimized in the context of “just kidding”. All such actions are degrading and disruptive to the academy learning process and professional law enforcement and as such, subject to censure.

• Do not consult any resources during an examination or quiz unless directed as an open book or open book/open note test. Any fraudulent test score enhancement is cheating and you will leave the academy. Complete all assignments either individually or in a group, as directed by the instructors.

• Students possessing outside test guides will make all such guides available to all students in their class. Present the guide to the director and the director will make photocopies for the entire class and return the original to the student. “Secret” test guides are “cheat sheets” and belong in “good ol’ boy” academies, not in academies based on team work and fairness.

• Take home (TH) tests include the answer and a “cite” line to prove you have researched the answer and your cite documents that you have found the answer in the reading material and “proven” it is correct. Your reading materials will have “cite" sources in more than one place so your “cite” may differ from your study mates. Learn to network with fellow officers by working together on “cites”. The “cite” will not be on the sit down test and you are not required to memorize the cite.

• Work with other students in work groups to study and find the cites. You need to share the cites you find and confirm cites found by other students. Sharing is fine as long as long you verify that shared cites are accurate – open the books (learning materials) and find the cite.

• You will get a test point for each cite found on the take home, regardless of who originally found or located the cite. Cites are not part of the sit down (SD) test; only the question is on the site down and you get a test point for each correct answer. Correctly finding the cite insures that you know the material.

• You must bring your Take Home (TH) with you when you take the scheduled Sit Down (SD) test. The Sit Down is not an “open book” type test and you cannot use or refer to the Take Home or any other material during the taking of the Sit Down.

• Your Take Home will be turned in at the end of the test period along with the Sit Down for review and grade recording. Both tests will be returned to you promptly for you to use as review material and study guides. The tests belong to you and I encourage you to destroy your tests after you have taken the POST test. You will definitely and absolutely do irreparable harm and cripple any future academy student that gains possession of your tests and uses them as a “study guide” during their academy. The tests are dangerous to anyone using them without toughly pursuing and finding the “cites”.

• Students are to behave in a professional law enforcement manner at all times. Student behavior must reflect serious attention to the training and frivolous behavior must be curtailed during training.

• Students will be present, properly dressed with equipment and

prepared for class a minimum of ten minutes before the class starts – 8AM, and return from all breaks and lunch periods well in advance of starting time.

• Students will be in their seats and settled before the end of any break or lunch period.

• Students will not leave the classroom or training area until excused. If the instructor excuses the class before the scheduled completion hour, the class will contact the director. The class will select a student to find and contact the director in such instances. (The director disburses hand-out and test material at the end of the day. If a student darts out the door before the director has a chance to hand out materials, the materials will be handed out to the remaining students - sorry.)

• Students will voluntarily withdraw from the OJC Law Academy if they violate this Code of Conduct, any violation of the memorandum of understanding and student manual are charged with any criminal violation, or who are untruthful or perform in a manner inconsistent with a career public servant.

GRADE DISTRIBUTION:• ACADEMIC CLASSES

– A - 100% - 90%– B - 89% - 80% – C - 79% - 70%– FAILURE - 69% and below

– The overall academic test average will determine academic course letter grades for all academic classes minus any percentage points taken off for unexcused absences, tardy , equipment failure and lack of participation.

– Students are allowed two (2) academic test retakes for failed tests and may delete one test score from the test score total before the overall academic average is calculated.

• SKILL CLASSES– All skill classes are Pass / Fail– Students failing any of the thirteen (13) subject matter areas will not receive a certificate and must

successfully retake the course within the next two semesters before they are eligible for a certificate .

– Students failing courses will be required to pay tuition to retake the course. Incomplete grades are awarded if the failure was beyond the student’s control.

• All academy course requirements must be met within three consecutive academies or the certification process must be restarted from the beginning.

•

• Students failing any of the seventy-five (75) subject matter areas will not receive a certificate and must successfully retake the course within the next two semesters before they are eligible for a certificate.– Incomplete grades – POST requires that all training is done within a two (2) year period.

• Students failing courses will be required to pay tuition to retake the course. Incomplete grades are awarded if the failure was beyond the student’s control.

• All academy course requirements must be met within three consecutive academies or the certification process must be restarted from the beginning.

•

SUMMATION• You have lost your civilian right to be a private citizen but

understand you still have a right to privacy. • Understand that from now on you have no personal life

where you can do what you absolutely please. What you do in private is directly reflected in your life as a public servant.

• You have the right to privacy but now that privacy represents your obligation to maintaining the peace and enforcing the law.

• This is not as ominous as it sounds: Conduct your personal life as if it will be broadcast on the morning news or as tomorrow’s newspaper headline. Pretty simple; please attend some other career training if you wear your public good conduct like a coat you hang on the back of your office door and wear something else in your private life