WEEK 1: A lot of class time and adjusting

The entire first week was spent in the classroom and the students are getting adjusted to their new life as a police academy cadet. It is a life that involves more rules and regulations than they may be used to.

“I’d rather not have to shine my boots,” said 20-year-old Daniel Crocker, who is unaffiliated with a department. “But everything else has been fun.”

“Today was the first day we actually had an inspection on our uniforms,” added Rachel St. Pe’, a Texas A&M Police Department recruit. “Today a couple of people were not 100% up to par so they had to do push-ups.”

The adjustment is not only in appearance but in the classroom as well.

“In college I would go to class in a pair of shorts with a cup of coffee and kick my feet up on the desk,” Crocker laughed. “I’m not about to try that here.”

St. Pe’ was quick to chime in, “There is no food or drinks in the classroom – only water. And we have on our duty belts and it gets uncomfortable after a while.”

After Monday’s intro and physical assessment, the class covered topics including fitness and wellness, the history of policing, the U.S. and Texas Constitution, and ethics.

On Friday, officer Mark Langwell of the College Station Police Department held a discussion about police professionalism and ethics. Cadets are taught to evaluate situations to determine the most ethical course of action by looking at the alternatives and possible conclusions.

“One of the things we look at when we recruit people is the kind of life that they’ve led,” Langwell said. “We want to know if they have made good ethical choices in the past. Once you become an officer, your behavior becomes all that more important because your actions speak volumes to the public.”

The first week is over and the time in the classroom may not be the most exciting the recruits will have over the 17-week course. That does not mean it is unimportant.

“A lot of this stuff we will be tested on directly, but everything we have done this week - even just flipping through the manual – is going to be information that we are going to use to build on,” said Russell Rodriguez, also a recruit of the TAMU Police Department. “We are getting a sense of why we are doing something and then we are going to get into the nuts and bolts later on.”

Rodriquez continued, “The information is mostly common sense, but there is just so much of it. The body of knowledge that you are going to be responsible for is going to grow every single day. That’s the difficult part.”

After a weekend of rest – or studying for most – the recruits will return Monday to five-straight days of learning the Texas Penal Code.

Interesting tidbits:

According to Kyle McNew, TEEX program manager and instructor, policing began in Europe where Sir Robert Peel laid the foundation for the organized metropolitan police system in London. Law enforcement in Texas began with Stephen F. Austin’s Rangers, which eventually evolved into the world-famous Texas Rangers.

Lunch ... Texas A&M's Riverside campus is not very close to Bryan or College Station and there are no restaurants near the facility. Most of the cadets bring their lunch and eat in the breakroom.