Each shift starts with shining his badge.
It’s a ritual Joe Cirrito, a 22-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, has carried with him since his first day on the job — a small act that flips the switch from home to “game on,” reminding him of the weight of the work and the people who count on him to get it right.
Today, as a field training officer (FTO) in LAPD’s Olympic Division, Cirrito isn’t just putting that badge on for himself — he’s teaching new officers what it truly represents. From embracing “miserable” workouts in the rain to modeling calm under chaos, he’s focused on building confident, street-ready officers who can think clearly, lead under pressure and still go home to their families at the end of watch.
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Cirrito’s path to this role is deeply personal. A former school teacher from New York, his journey into law enforcement was shaped by the sacrifice of his close friend, Port Authority Officer Dominick Pezzulo, who was killed on 9/11. That loss drives him to “work for both of us” every day — and to pour that sense of purpose into every P1 who steps into his shop — the patrol car officers work out of, the space Cirrito describes as “their store, their workspace, their place to learn.”
Below, Cirrito shares what it takes to be an effective FTO, how he pushes new officers out of their comfort zones while protecting their confidence, and why adaptability, fitness and stress management are critical to surviving — and thriving — in today’s policing environment.
What does a typical day as an FTO with the LAPD look like?
My day starts about two and a half hours before the start of watch. First thing, I make sure my uniform is correct. I shine my badge every day and that starts getting me into the mindset. Just preparing for the day, I have to forget about issues at home, put that on the back burner because I have to focus on my job. I don’t work inside; I’m in life-and-death situations or making decisions, coming up with solutions and making arrests. So I have to be clearheaded. The first thing I do — and I’ve always done it since day one — is shine my badge. It gets me in the mindset that I’ve got to work today.
I get my uniform squared away, shine my boots, and then I do some self-maintenance, and that’s getting my workout in for the day. My workouts are normally about an hour and a half and consist of high-intensity training, really pushing it and getting the heart rate up. I’m a little nutty — even if it’s raining or cold, I go outside and run. I embrace the miserable because I’m going to be dealing with miserable stuff. I’m getting my mind ready for working that night. If it’s raining, there’s a good chance I might be out on a perimeter stuck in the rain, so I might as well get wet and acclimated. It is what it is.
It also inspires others. I have my little clan of crazy people who go out and run with me and do the workouts. Some of us older officers compete with the younger officers. The fitness aspect is a big part of that. We have challenges, and I’m the leader of the nuts, so I have to be out there. After that, I come in, shower up and get ready for roll call. During roll call, it’s important to have something positive. I might bring up some positivity about the watch, a great keeper from the night before or something I heard. We try to leave on a positive note.
In this video from Gordon Graham, the focus is on the lasting value of mentoring in public safety. While formal training often ends after the academy or field training, learning shouldn’t stop there. Gordon emphasizes that everyone — regardless of rank or years on the job — has valuable knowledge to share. Mentoring, whether formal or informal, strengthens skill development, reinforces good decision-making and helps newer personnel avoid common mistakes. It’s a professional relationship that benefits both the mentor and the mentee — and it’s never too early or too late to get involved.
My P1 — they’re up in the front row — will usually give us some insight, whether it’s on policy or a keeper they had and what they learned. Then we get our car assignments. Like everyone else, we go to the kit room, get our car and we call our patrol cars “shops.” We’re working out of them and that’s our store. Being a senior guy, our P1s get the shops we like, whatever series shop it is, so they’re the first to get there and get the shop. We log on, and when we’re watch three, there’s no getting coffee or anything like that. We have to start buying calls because watch two — day watch — has left, and mid-watch might only have two cars just holding things together until we come down.
Right away, we let them know we’re down and ready to go, and then we start buying calls and getting the day going. Every day is different. That first call will kind of dictate things, especially when we hear the watch commander say, “It’s busy out there, we’re going to keep roll call short.” We know there are no breaks for anybody. We log on and start handling radio calls. That’s a big part of it. Then it’s checking in on your P1, making sure he or she has their head in the game.
The big thing I say as we’re leaving the gate is, “Let’s see what the day brings us,” and then we’re headed out to that first radio call. It could be a shooting, a mental illness call — anything. Usually they’re code two, and sometimes we have a code three call and don’t even have time to log on; we’re just going.
The big thing is to get that P1 their experiences out on the street so they can start gaining confidence in themselves. Even for P1s, they’re controlling an incident and making decisions. That’s very important for their development.
Cirrito’s journey is a powerful reminder of how one fallen officer’s legacy can shape another’s calling. If you’d like to learn more about the moment that changed everything for Officer Cirrito, and the bond he still carries with him on every shift, don’t miss “From New York to Los Angeles: A fallen 9/11 officer’s legacy lives on.”
What challenges do you face regularly as an FTO, and how do you handle them?
As an FTO, you’re dealing with a lot of personalities. Sometimes you think, “I’m never going to invite this individual to my house for a barbecue.” You’re just not. But I have a job to do and this is my partner, and I’m going to make it the best I can. For me, I have to do a lot of adapting for that individual.
I’m always quizzing them on policy and tactics — it’s this constant verbal interaction, constantly talking. And sometimes you have those who get it and have questions ready for you, and sometimes you have to pull it out of them and get them out of that shell so they understand they can do this job — and that we know they can do this job. You got out of the academy. You made it. You’re POST-certified. You got this far. Now let’s take it to another level. So it’s really building that confidence for them where they can have that command control at an incident.
For those who feel like they know everything already, this job isn’t for them. Because I have over 22 years on the streets, and I don’t know anything. I’m learning every day. So it’s really trying to model the best way of being out on the street: how you talk to other officers, how you talk with the public, and then talking to those individuals who might think they know everything about their reputation, and that will follow them wherever they go. Sometimes that’s very difficult because they’re set in their ways, but you have to do your best with that.
Right now, I’ve got my P1, Karina. This girl is a badass. She’s 32 years old. It took her a while to get on this job, and she wanted this job. She was very persistent and she got on. And this girl right now eats, sleeps police work. She was texting me right before — and I’m like, “Karina, can you just enjoy three days off, please? Enjoy the three days off.”
On their own time, Cirrito and his current P1, Karina, went to Fullerton College to talk to 11th graders from Anaheim school district about law enforcement as a career.
Photo/Joe Cirrito
On their own time, Cirrito and his current P1, Karina, went to Fullerton College to talk to 11th graders from Anaheim school district about law enforcement as a career.
Photo/Joe Cirrito
And that’s something I have to do. I have to let it go now. I told her, “Enjoy your family, put things away. You’re doing really well right now. You had a great last three days of work; now enjoy yourself.” Then maybe the day before, or a few hours before you go to bed the last night off, go through your books, go over some penal codes and vehicle codes that might come up. So it’s also teaching them to shut things off, too, which is very difficult. I’m still learning that. I’ve become more aware of it probably in the last three or four years, really trying to change that in me because I’m comfortable in this hypervigilant state. And when you’re coming home, that can be really difficult on your family. So it’s learning how to shut it off. And I don’t really like using that word — shutting it off — because I don’t think you can. Learning to manage it.
What unique skills or tools are essential for success in your position?
Adaptability is number one. As an FTO, you have to adapt, because policy is changing and expectations of what the public wants for a police officer are changing. It’s not negative or positive — it’s just changes. Police work has changed since I was on probation and I was a P1. The expectations have changed. So as a good FTO, you have to be able to adapt.
You also have to have patience. You can’t jump the gun. You have to let that officer working next to you figure these problems out, talk. When they’re contact officer, let them be contact officer, let them get through it, let them talk through it to get that investigation done. You step in when you have to, but you really have to let them build their confidence.
Communication is very important to be able to debrief these officers, and you don’t want to discourage them because they’re going to mess up. It’s just a fact. But you don’t want to discourage them to the point where they don’t want to do it. Getting on the radio is really difficult for a lot of them. When that mic is going toward your mouth, you’re going to screw things up. Or you’re on a foot pursuit and you’re messing things up. But they have to do it. They have to work through it, and you have to build the confidence so next time they’ll get better and better.
You also have to want to teach. That’s the biggest thing. I feel I have the most important job in the department. My job is far more important than the Chief of Police, because I am teaching the next generation of police officers who are going to be on the streets of L.A., and then they’re going to teach the next generation.
The other thing is physical fitness. I’m going to be 57 next week, and I’m not being cocky or anything, but I can outrun any gangster any day, anytime. They might be faster than me, but I’m going to catch them. And why? Because not only am I getting my mind right, but I’m keeping my body in a condition where I can do this job. If I have to jump out of the car and run, I can. If there’s a use of force, I’m right in the middle of it and I’m going to win. So teaching that to the P1s — the importance of fitness and conditioning — is very important, and how to deal with stress on the street.
What are the most rewarding aspects of your job as an FTO?
The greatest thing is seeing where these officers go. I stay in touch with quite a few of them and where they’ve progressed. They’re sergeants, they’re detectives. One is a sergeant II, one is taking the lieutenant’s test.
And seeing how they have evolved. I even like it when they’re a brand-new P1, when they first get there, and as they’re leaving, you begin to see the swagger when they’re walking in the hallway. And I’ll tell them, “Oh, you got some swagger now,” because they’re building that confidence of being out in the street. And it’s really impressive to see. And it’s like, “OK, I was part of that. I was part of them being this police officer.” Or they got a great caper, they got their first gun — hearing those stories or getting to share that first experience.
And I think that’s the other thing that keeps me excited about the job: I’m working with officers when it’s their first time with a 211 suspect, or their first foot pursuit, or their first car pursuit, and I shared that with them. It’s very fulfilling. It’s very rewarding.
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When I was a school teacher before coming on this job, sometimes I didn’t know what happened to my students. What’s nice about this job is I get to see a lot of their results, and I’m really proud. And I love saying sir or ma’am to my people when they’re sergeant II or something. And I’m like, “Sir, how are you, sir?” And they’re like, “Oh, please do not call me sir. I need to call you sir.” And I’m like, “No. No, this is what it’s all about, and I’m honored to call you sir,” or, “honored to call you ma’am, because you evolved.” And lots of times I bet with them where they’re going to be — if they’re going to be a detective or they’re going to go up in supervision — and usually I’m right.
It’s always great to catch up with them. It’s great to get that text message from them like, “Hey, just seeing how you’re doing, sir.” Or, “I got my first gun and I thought about you. I remember when we did this and you told me about that.” It feels good. That’s my reward. And I think that’s going to be my best memories — the relationships that I’ve built over the years.
Can you share a memorable experience or two that highlights your impact as an FTO?
The first one — his name was Valencia — and we had an ADW stabbing call that came out. A little background is that the victim was a manager of an apartment building. He also does moving stuff, so he had a box truck parked there. The suspect started tagging up his box truck. So he goes out, confronts the guy, and the suspect pulls out a machete and starts going to town on him right in the middle of the intersection.
We get there, suspect is GOA, but this guy’s lying there and his face got filleted. It was horrible. But he survived.
And my partner — right away — I’m like, “You’re going to take lead in this incident. Let’s get additional units here because it’s a busy intersection, start getting witnesses. But we’ve got to get an RA for our victim right now because he’s not doing too well. He’s losing blood and everything else.” So my P1 was able to get on the radio, let people know what we have. We have units coming, paramedics coming. Now we’re dealing with witness statements.
But this is where it gets crazy. We have a unit going with the victim to get statements. We then have a call come out at Good Samaritan Hospital, and we hear it’s for Rampart. We’re Olympic, right next to them. It’s for a male Hispanic with a large gash in his left arm, blood all over the place, rolled into the ER saying he was attacked by a homeless guy in a white vehicle. And when we talked to witnesses, our suspect left in a white vehicle. So we had a unit follow-up.
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So this P1 is communicating, doing a good job, still sticking with getting witness statements, doing everything well. Now we’re probably going to have a suspect in custody — which we do. We get a suspect in custody. The machete — it was a butcher cleaver — was in plain view in the car, blood all over the car, and the car matches the description of the one that left the scene. A unit is over there, things are getting cleared up. We’re going to make an arrest, but this individual has to get surgery because what he did is he slipped and the machete cut him too. Then there was a Chicago Bulls jacket, and my partner did a good job identifying all these things in plain view in the car.
It gets better because we’re now going to get statements from the victim. Calls are dropping. It was a very busy night. Then my watch commander calls me up and says, “Joe, I need you to handle calls. We got people there — they’ll deal with that, they’ll get your statements — but I need you to handle radio calls.” And this is tough because this is my arrest, but we’re so short, now I have to deal with radio calls.
The next minute, we’re at a felony vandalism. A guy barricaded himself inside, so now we have a barricaded suspect. When we were at the door, he opened it and hit my partner with a two-by-four. He wasn’t at the threshold; the guy is just high as a kite. So now this guy’s going to jail. Now we’re dealing with that — it’s a whole tactical situation with units figuring out how we’re going to get this supervised and coming up with a plan.
So my P1 has got to change his mindset from this whole other arrest we had. Now we’re dealing with a whole new incident that we have to take care of. It was just the fact that there was so much growth in this P1 that night — that he can handle anything afterward. I saw Valencia grow that night. I saw the confidence in him growing. And then we had a very long night into the next day because we now have two arrests close to end of watch. This all started about 2:00 in the morning. It’s just exciting to watch them grow.
Another one I will bring up — his name is Schmitt — and I love this guy. Schmitt was this guy from Kentucky who came to LAPD, and he just wasn’t grasping things. It was really difficult for him. And I had to really lace into him like, “You can do this.” His confidence wasn’t there.
We were on our way to a 459 investigation and had a suspect description. Schmitt observes the suspect over by La Salle and Washington — I won’t forget. This was probably 14 years ago. I just drove by last night and was telling my partner about Schmitt. He ID’d him, we took him into custody, and he did the report, the arrest. I saw his confidence just go up from making that observation. A few other officers patted him on the back like, “Good job,” and everything.
All of a sudden, he excelled the rest of the time I had him. I had him for probably two more weeks, and then the rest of his probation. He became a detective and a sergeant. So he’s got both, and he’s a sergeant in Hollywood — one of the busiest divisions we have in LAPD. But he also did a lot of the runs with me. He would come back and help with our support teams, and he ran alongside me many times. That, to me, is just a great memory.
And I love giving my stripes to my P1s who become P3s. I put new stripes on, but I’ll take them off and I’ll write a little something on the stripes and give it to them: “Never forget where you came from.” That’s my thing. So I’ll give my stripes away to my P1s that become P3s down the line.
What advice would you give someone interested in becoming an FTO?
Number one: Don’t do it for the money, because you’re cheating yourself and you’re cheating that officer.
You’re teaching the next generation, and that’s so important to any police department. A piece of you will always be there. You’ll never be forgotten because your stories and that person will keep on telling the stories, and a piece of you is now in them, and now they’re teaching how they’re going to do police work.
I feel I have a piece of my FTOs in me. I learned a lot from them. I’m a radio chaser, and that was my first FTO. Loved chasing after the radio, loved the interesting radio calls, and I gravitated to that. My first FTO really impacted me on the way I wanted to do police work. So I love chasing after that radio and getting that crazy call. I just love it.
So it’s having that drive, loving the job that you’re doing, because you want to make that contagious for that new officer. You don’t want that new officer to be jaded and have a chip on the shoulder. You want them to be out there and loving the job. That’s what it’s all about.
And that comes from the FTO because they’re a sponge. It’s your kid. And now they are — they’re the age of my kids. So I think of them being my kids, and I want them to have a great career. So it’s important to be enthusiastic and to want to go out there and grab anything so that they’ll do the same thing.
And then that patience, being able to adapt. The department’s going to adapt — don’t be one of those officers saying, “Oh, everything’s horrible.” No, it’s just evolving, it’s just changing, and you have to change with the time. You have to adapt, you have to be able to evolve as an FTO.
