Solo!

After 17 weeks of training, I am now officially a solo officer.

The training went very well and, to my knowledge, I didn't make any horrible mistakes that would draw the attention of administration (haha). My field training officers were extremely knowledgeable and I give them all the credit in the world for helping me rise to the level I'm at now. I also extend credit to all the other officers who were helpful when I had questions which needed to be answered.

I just completed my second week of solo patrol. It's still an alien feeling to me to crawl into a patrol car by myself and hit the streets. I was so used to having someone in the passenger seat watching my every move.

My second night out on my own, I went "hands-on" with two individuals, and I actually wrestled with one of them. That in itself is odd because I merely handcuffed compliant subjects while I was in field training and never had any problems. My fellow officers and I were able to control these two people without any issues, but it was still interesting how it all happened so quickly as soon as I was solo.

We just finished digging out from a moderate blizzard that struck the plains states this past weekend. We probably only got 6 inches of snow, but as many people around the country don't realize, 6 inches of snow in South Dakota equals about 3 feet in other areas. Just six inches of snow causes 5-foot snow drifts to cover cars, roads, and any and all fire hydrants around town. We drive Dodge Chargers here which are rear-wheel drive, so you can imagine how that went. Luckily we have a few 4x4 patrol vehicles that we were able to use for responding to calls.

At any rate, things have been going great. I hope everyone out there is doing well and ready for Christmas! I will be going back to Pennsylvania for 2 days with my fiancee to visit family. It will be a quick trip, but worth it.

Until later, remember, you have 1* (one ass to risk)!