Police Academy class #10
Apr. 16th, 2009 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agt_spookyClass last night was pretty freaking cool.
But before we get to that, do you remember a few weeks ago that problem student W announced VERY loudly that Supernatural was problem student M's favorite show after they saw my Dean amulet? Nothing happened after that, and I was relieved, but it was short lived, as M threw himself into a chair across from me last night and wanted to talk all about SPN. [facepalm] Thankfully my friend Chris arrived not too long after and saved me. [sigh]
Anyway, last night was our tour of the county jail. The Chief of the jail was the one giving the presentation and the tour and here's a few things we learned:
• Our jail currently has 801 prisoners, 77 of which are female
• 20-30 prisoners are awaiting trial for murder
• If you are sentenced to 364 days or less, you remain in the county jail. Any sentence over 1 year and you're transfered to the state prison
• There are separate pods (20 prisoners per pod) for misdemeanor offenses, felony offenses, prisoners over the age of 40, and a completely separate women's section
• There are also special suicide watch cells
• All of the booking agents are civilians, not police officers
• The original jail was built in 1983 and has steel bars on the cells. The addition was built in 1994 and is state of the art with bullet proof glass on the cells instead of bars, and everything is computer controlled instead of key controlled
• Food is brought directly to the cells, no common cafeteria
• Prisoners are not allowed outside. They have 1/2 hour of gym time each day, and large shutters are opened on the windows to let in fresh air
• Our county jail is commonly referred to as The Hilton compared to the other jails in the area
The tour itself was very eye-opening and very depressing. I also don't know how to describe it except being at the zoo with the animals staring back at you. As soon as we walked into each area the prisoners would come up and press their faces against the glass or start making rude gestures or start pounding on the tables or start yelling. Personally I wasn't bothered by anything I saw, but it made a lot of people uncomfortable. It just made me depressed, thinking about being locked up like that 23 1/2 hours a day.
We got to see the intake area, where the prisoners are first brought in. And the holding cells were quite full. We got to see one prisoner booked and finger printed. We were also taken to the disciplinary segregation section ("the hole"). And wow did the prisoners get riled up in there when they heard us outside.
In one of the wings of the jail we got to go up into one of the control rooms where the guards sit. It's set up so that the guards can see into all three pods in that wing, containing a maximum of 60 prisoners, which are split up on two floors. We also got to go into the main control room for the entire jail that was full of touch-screen computer equipment and 16 video monitors that looked into the hallways and also outside.
Overall it was an eye-opening experience that not many people get to go through - to see behind the scenes of a jail. And trust me, people, it's NOT a place you want to end up at. I give those guards a lot of credit, because it's not a job I'd ever want to do.
After our jail tour we went back to our classroom, where we were split up evenly into two groups for a role-playing exercise that prospective deputies go through in their training academy.
I ended up in Group 1. The 20 of us were to go out in the hallway, as far as we could get from the door, so we couldn't hear what was going on. The remaining 20 students stayed in the classroom to observe us.
The 20 of us in the hallway were then partnered up and I ended up with problem student John. [sigh] We were given rubber guns and holsters.
We were to go in the classroom two at a time, and we had 30 seconds to assess the situation and basically deal with it as if we were two deputies that had been dispatched to a call. It was pretty much like our simulator exercise from last week, but with real people this time. It was again the "Shoot / Don't Shoot" situation.
John and I were the second to the last pair to go, and I was pretty nervous. When it was our turn and we got to the classroom door, our sergeant laid out the basics for us - we're on a domestic violence call. John and I had a few seconds to discuss. I would take the woman and John would take the man. Get them separated as quickly as possible and keep our own bodies turned so that we could keep an eye on each other.
The door opened and as soon as we stepped in, this woman (who was not part of our class, but does these role-playing exercises for the sheriff's department) comes running up to us, waving her hands and yelling at the top of her lungs. Her "husband" was sitting in a chair (that was supposed to be a couch in a living room) and was yelling back at her. I took charge of her while John went over to the man. I tried to get her to calm down, to sit down, to tell me what happened, etc. The two of them were so loud and kept trying to move around, but John and I, with our bodies, kept them separate, while still watching each other out of the corner of our eye..
Suddenly the 30 seconds were up, and our sergeant called John and I over to him. He wanted to know what we thought the threat assessment was of the two people. Basically all they were doing was yelling and screaming. Right? Um, not so much. Our sergeant told us to turn around and what do we see? The woman had a knife tucked in her back waistband, and the man had a gun on the floor between his feet. Neither John or I saw either weapon. [facepalm]
At first I felt terrible, having missed the weapons, but I think my body prevented the woman from turning and showing her back to John, (like she kept trying to do) where he would've seen the knife. And from where I was standing, the man's foot was blocking my view of the gun. And then we found out that NO ONE who had gone ahead of us saw the weapons, either. Talk about a learning experience! There was so much chaos going on with the yelling and screaming that we were too focused on diffusing the situation. We needed to take in the bigger picture of our surroundings. Just goes to show you everything a deputy has to process in 30 seconds or less when they roll up to a call.
So yeah, it was a pretty awesome class. :-)
hit counter dreamweaver
Next week is more role-playing, where we're going to re-enact traffic stops. Yeah, get me behind the wheel of a squad car! Bring it on! :-)
Can't believe that there are only five classes left!
But before we get to that, do you remember a few weeks ago that problem student W announced VERY loudly that Supernatural was problem student M's favorite show after they saw my Dean amulet? Nothing happened after that, and I was relieved, but it was short lived, as M threw himself into a chair across from me last night and wanted to talk all about SPN. [facepalm] Thankfully my friend Chris arrived not too long after and saved me. [sigh]
Anyway, last night was our tour of the county jail. The Chief of the jail was the one giving the presentation and the tour and here's a few things we learned:
• Our jail currently has 801 prisoners, 77 of which are female
• 20-30 prisoners are awaiting trial for murder
• If you are sentenced to 364 days or less, you remain in the county jail. Any sentence over 1 year and you're transfered to the state prison
• There are separate pods (20 prisoners per pod) for misdemeanor offenses, felony offenses, prisoners over the age of 40, and a completely separate women's section
• There are also special suicide watch cells
• All of the booking agents are civilians, not police officers
• The original jail was built in 1983 and has steel bars on the cells. The addition was built in 1994 and is state of the art with bullet proof glass on the cells instead of bars, and everything is computer controlled instead of key controlled
• Food is brought directly to the cells, no common cafeteria
• Prisoners are not allowed outside. They have 1/2 hour of gym time each day, and large shutters are opened on the windows to let in fresh air
• Our county jail is commonly referred to as The Hilton compared to the other jails in the area
The tour itself was very eye-opening and very depressing. I also don't know how to describe it except being at the zoo with the animals staring back at you. As soon as we walked into each area the prisoners would come up and press their faces against the glass or start making rude gestures or start pounding on the tables or start yelling. Personally I wasn't bothered by anything I saw, but it made a lot of people uncomfortable. It just made me depressed, thinking about being locked up like that 23 1/2 hours a day.
We got to see the intake area, where the prisoners are first brought in. And the holding cells were quite full. We got to see one prisoner booked and finger printed. We were also taken to the disciplinary segregation section ("the hole"). And wow did the prisoners get riled up in there when they heard us outside.
In one of the wings of the jail we got to go up into one of the control rooms where the guards sit. It's set up so that the guards can see into all three pods in that wing, containing a maximum of 60 prisoners, which are split up on two floors. We also got to go into the main control room for the entire jail that was full of touch-screen computer equipment and 16 video monitors that looked into the hallways and also outside.
Overall it was an eye-opening experience that not many people get to go through - to see behind the scenes of a jail. And trust me, people, it's NOT a place you want to end up at. I give those guards a lot of credit, because it's not a job I'd ever want to do.
After our jail tour we went back to our classroom, where we were split up evenly into two groups for a role-playing exercise that prospective deputies go through in their training academy.
I ended up in Group 1. The 20 of us were to go out in the hallway, as far as we could get from the door, so we couldn't hear what was going on. The remaining 20 students stayed in the classroom to observe us.
The 20 of us in the hallway were then partnered up and I ended up with problem student John. [sigh] We were given rubber guns and holsters.
We were to go in the classroom two at a time, and we had 30 seconds to assess the situation and basically deal with it as if we were two deputies that had been dispatched to a call. It was pretty much like our simulator exercise from last week, but with real people this time. It was again the "Shoot / Don't Shoot" situation.
John and I were the second to the last pair to go, and I was pretty nervous. When it was our turn and we got to the classroom door, our sergeant laid out the basics for us - we're on a domestic violence call. John and I had a few seconds to discuss. I would take the woman and John would take the man. Get them separated as quickly as possible and keep our own bodies turned so that we could keep an eye on each other.
The door opened and as soon as we stepped in, this woman (who was not part of our class, but does these role-playing exercises for the sheriff's department) comes running up to us, waving her hands and yelling at the top of her lungs. Her "husband" was sitting in a chair (that was supposed to be a couch in a living room) and was yelling back at her. I took charge of her while John went over to the man. I tried to get her to calm down, to sit down, to tell me what happened, etc. The two of them were so loud and kept trying to move around, but John and I, with our bodies, kept them separate, while still watching each other out of the corner of our eye..
Suddenly the 30 seconds were up, and our sergeant called John and I over to him. He wanted to know what we thought the threat assessment was of the two people. Basically all they were doing was yelling and screaming. Right? Um, not so much. Our sergeant told us to turn around and what do we see? The woman had a knife tucked in her back waistband, and the man had a gun on the floor between his feet. Neither John or I saw either weapon. [facepalm]
At first I felt terrible, having missed the weapons, but I think my body prevented the woman from turning and showing her back to John, (like she kept trying to do) where he would've seen the knife. And from where I was standing, the man's foot was blocking my view of the gun. And then we found out that NO ONE who had gone ahead of us saw the weapons, either. Talk about a learning experience! There was so much chaos going on with the yelling and screaming that we were too focused on diffusing the situation. We needed to take in the bigger picture of our surroundings. Just goes to show you everything a deputy has to process in 30 seconds or less when they roll up to a call.
So yeah, it was a pretty awesome class. :-)
hit counter dreamweaver
Next week is more role-playing, where we're going to re-enact traffic stops. Yeah, get me behind the wheel of a squad car! Bring it on! :-)
Can't believe that there are only five classes left!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 06:06 pm (UTC)I'm interested in those differences you posted up about life in US jails - I work in several prisons here in the UK and I find it fascinating to learn how other countries organise their penitentiary facilities.
And yeah, prisons really aren't a walk in the park!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 08:16 pm (UTC)Glad I could give you a little insight into how things are done over here. My report was really brief, though. There were several other things that the Chief talked about, about how they classify prisoners so that they're placed in the proper pods, etc. Especially when you've got gang members in there and need to keep them separate from other rival members.
And yeah, prisons really aren't a walk in the park!
Good lord, no! But then again, they really shouldn't be for the inmates, eh?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 08:28 pm (UTC)Sure, I'm a pagan prison minister. I am also the officially appointed faith advisor for paganism for the Prison Service for England and Wales. I think I have it listed on my info page...
And yeah, prisons really aren't a walk in the park!
Good lord, no! But then again, they really shouldn't be for the inmates, eh?
Absolutely not! But then again, prisoners are people too. And although I'm no pushover for a sob story (HA! My husband would laugh his socks off at anyone calling me a pushover in even the loosest sense of the word! I am so not a tree-hugger liberal lol), I still believe that prisoners should be treated like humans. If you treat someone like scum, scum is what you'll get, and that serves no purpose whatsoever to you, them or society as a whole.
There are - of course - people who commit atrocious and heinous acts which are unforgivable, and of course I don't condone that. But prisoners have already been judged and sentenced by the system. It's not my place to continue flogging that whip once the trial is over and they are incarcerated. My job only extends to offering spiritual guidance *if* they want it (paganism is non-proselytizing).
I guess I can see that in all humanity we each share good and bad traits. Some of us make less than positive choices regarding those traits. Not one of us is without the capability to screw up on some level! And that'll be where people like you step in to keep society safe from other peoples' bad choices and screw ups! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 08:22 pm (UTC)Wow, how interesting that you say that, because when we were learning about the booking process and the questions that are asked, one of them was "what religion are you". And some of my classmates were confused as to why that would be asked. It was self-explanatory to me! Everyone, no matter if they're in prison, gets the right to worship.
Absolutely not! But then again, prisoners are people too. And although I'm no pushover for a sob story I still believe that prisoners should be treated like humans.
Oh gosh, yes. And hopefully being treated with respect will help rehabilitate many of them and they'll never wind up in prison again.
My job only extends to offering spiritual guidance *if* they want it (paganism is non-proselytizing).
Do you have many that you minister to?
Not one of us is without the capability to screw up on some level! And that'll be where people like you step in to keep society safe from other peoples' bad choices and screw ups! :)
Well I'm certainly learning how! :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 11:28 pm (UTC)It varies from month to month. Many prisoners will get shipped to other prisons with less than a days notice, so one week I might have a group of 6 or 7 and the next just 1 or 2!
Over the last 12 months in my 3 prisons alone I've seen about 15 pagans in prison. I've also officiated a funeral ceremony for one of my ladies who committed suicide whilst in prison - that was very sad indeed as she gave no indication that she was planning to do it. Came as a big shock to us.
In total though, pagans only make up less than 0.5% of the prison population in England and Wales (which I guess is really a good thing lol).
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-20 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 06:22 pm (UTC)The sim sounds like it was fun. And again, points out just how much officers have to assess in a minuscule amount of time.
I can't imagine being in jail. *shudder* Like you said, monkeys in a cage.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 08:16 pm (UTC)And again, points out just how much officers have to assess in a minuscule amount of time.
Yep, it was definitely to reinforce that point, and for us to realize that WE may think an officer is over-reacting by pulling his weapon if you make a sudden move just to get your cellphone or something. It could just as easily be a gun.
I can't imagine being in jail. *shudder* Like you said, monkeys in a cage.
A couple of my classmates said after the tour that every high school student should have this same tour, to kinda scare them BEFORE they think about getting in trouble. I couldn't disagree with them!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 09:35 pm (UTC)-Samazon
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 08:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 11:17 pm (UTC)"It just made me depressed, thinking about being locked up like that 23 1/2 hours a day." I assume you mean, you'd be depressed being locked up, cause I feel grateful they are off the streets.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-17 08:21 pm (UTC)That is SO true, and can turn deadly in a heartbeat.
I assume you mean, you'd be depressed being locked up, cause I feel grateful they are off the streets.
Oh yeah, that's exactly what I meant. Looking at the same four walls day in and day out for years? No thank you!
LOL
Date: 2009-04-17 02:58 am (UTC)Re: LOL
Date: 2009-04-17 08:19 pm (UTC)