Behind the Badge

SLO County Sheriff’s Office

by Ian Parkinson, SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SHERIFF

LAW ENFORCEMENT HOPEFULS TACKLE THE ACADEMY BEFORE THE ACADEMY

It’s the second month of the new year. For some of you, that may mean the resolutions you made back in January may not have made it to February. And that’s OK. It happens to us all. But there is one group that is keeping its resolution to seek out a new challenge, a new opportunity, a new career, and quite possibly a new life. This group of men and women is looking to join the ranks of law enforcement professionals.

The Sheriff’s Office is always looking for qualified candidates to become a part of our organization. Typically, we send new recruits to a The pre-academy training for potential San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Deputies includes in-your-face training from drill instructors. law enforcement academy for six months of training to become a Deputy Sheriff. But before that happens, we usually conduct pre-academy training. Think of it as the academy before the actual academy. But don’t think of it as a watered-down version of the real thing. Oh, it’s the real thing, alright. It’s a week-long quasi-military-style training designed to get the recruits ready for what to expect when they attend the police academy. Those taking pre-academy training conducted by the Sheriff’s Department also include recruits for other law enforcement agencies on the Central Coast. Sheriff’s Department instructors put a class through it paces during a session of pre-academy training. Contributed photos

And just because it has police academy in the title, don’t think this is anything like the popular film comedies of the ’80s. No hijinks here. Just some serious training. This intensive training is done with a purpose. Not only to get the recruits ready for the academy, which is even more intense. But to get them ready for the ultimate test. Taking that training and knowledge to the streets and dealing with real-life events when they finally make it to patrol.

The pre-academy consists of both classroom training as well as inyour-face training from drill instructors. There are a number of classes to teach the recruits about topics like ethics, report writing, radio codes, uniform inspection, physical training, basic firearms exposure, a basic law class, a drill and ceremony class, and a lesson in mentorship. That’s a lot to learn in a week. But it’s not when compared to the training they’ll get in six months in the academy. and six from the Santa Maria Police Department.

So why do they do it? As one recruit said, “My Dad was in law enforcement, and I knew since I was a kid that I wanted to follow in his footsteps. What’s great about this pre-academy is that it’s preparing me for my best shot of success for the POST academy, making me as ready as I’ll ever be.”

It’s been almost 15 years since the pre-academy began. Originally it was just recruits for the Sheriff’s Office. But then we began accepting recruits from other law enforcement agencies locally who saw a need for this type of training. This pre-academy class consists of two recruits from the Sheriff’s Office, two from the San Luis Obispo Police Department, two from the Atascadero Police Department, three from the Paso Robles Police Department, one from the Arroyo Grande Police Department,

The Sheriff’s Office provides this training at no cost to those agencies. Why do we do this? Because every law enforcement agency has a need in their organization for people who are highly motivated, exceptionally skilled, and who operate at a high level of professionalism. As a result, this benefits us all. It’s pretty simple, really. Better training means better recruits. Better recruits mean better Deputies. And better Deputies mean a safer community.

SAVETHEDATE Sunday, April32022

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