By Melissa Engle, Fayetteville N.C. Online
Justin Lozada can hardly believe the transformation.
Lozada, a Fayetteville State University graduate, is about midway through training to become an officer for the Fayetteville Police Department.
He has struggled at times - with his diet and with the physical and mental aspects of training. Simply staying awake in the classroom was a problem early on.
History, says Lozada. All part of the past.
“I’ve come a long way,” he said Sept. 13. “I hadn’t noticed until everyone told me. I go to the mirror and see my body and can’t believe it’s mine.”
Lozada’s 6-foot, 220-pound frame is beginning to show the musculature that results from eschewing fast-food chicken for an occasional salad.
“I don’t feel as tired as usual. I feel healthier,” Lozada said.
“I’m working out more. On breaks, I come to the mat and do 20 push-ups. Hopefully, the run will be better. That’s the big test.”
Lozada was referring to a physical fitness test Sept. 13, the second for the class. He failed to finish a 1.5-mile run during the first weeks of class in August.
The 16-week police academy, sort of a boot camp for new hires, prepares officers for work on the streets.
The training center at 675 N. Eastern Blvd. has a classroom building and a main building. The facilities in the main building include administrative offices and a gymnasium with a basketball court and exercise equipment.
The cadets began classes Aug. 2. Graduation for the current class of 12 is scheduled for Dec. 3.
The city restarted its police academy in 1995, and two groups of students graduate each year.
Instructors who teach law enforcement courses volunteer for the assignment. The cadets so far have taken courses in ethics, laws, the sheriff’s responsibilities at the county jail, writing reports and identifying controlled substances.
Sgt. Don Baden has taught ethics. Tiffany Sneed, the department’s attorney, taught about laws involving arrest search and seizure. Sgt. Alex Thompson taught criminal investigation, during which students learned to dissect a crime scene.
“I think we do an excellent job of getting quality folks,” Thompson said. “We spend a large portion of time in pre-hire doing background checks.”
Growing confidence
Denise Orr is a former Air Force senior airman and one of two women in the class. Orr has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from California State University, Bakersfield. She is the mother of a 2-year-old girl, Aviana. Her husband, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, has two boys from a previous marriage.
Orr has no doubt that she will complete the training and become a police officer. She initially worried about spending so much time away from her family - the students’ day typically runs from 7 a.m until 5 p.m. - but they are adjusting.
And so is she. Orr drops off her daughter at day care and makes it to class on time each day, escaping the glare of instructors who earlier in the academy called attention to her being a couple of minutes late.
Orr and Lozada have passed every written and physical exam.
“I’m more proficient in my study routine,” Orr said. “I’m still coming in early - at least an hour early. If we have a more strenuous test, then I’ll come in an hour and a half early.”
Orr doesn’t get much studying done at home.
“I still feel like I am neglecting my family,” she said. “I feel like I should be doing more. I guess I’m feeling guilty.”
But Aviana is starting to like day care, a new experience for mother and daughter. The boys, Enrico, who is 13, and Cottrell, 9, have offered to help around the house. They had asked, “Why do you have to work?” says Orr.
“Even my husband realizes he has to pitch in,” Orr said.
Staff Sgt. James Orr, a parachute rigger, also is a full-time student at Campbell University, where he is studying security management.
“If I decide to do something, it’s pretty much done whether I have the natural ability or not,” Denise Orr said.
Family footsteps
Lozada, who is single, is trying to continue a family tradition of sorts. His grandfather, who lives in Puerto Rico, was a police captain there. He has since retired. Lozada’s father is a corrections officer at Harnett Correctional Institution in Lillington.
“I’m very proud of Justin,” said Sheila Lozada, Justin’s mother. “He always goes the extra mile for people. He’ll make a great officer.”
She said her son has wanted to be a police officer since he was a little boy playing cops and robbers.
“He used to say he wanted to be a policeman in the Army checking the ID cards,” she said. “It’s always been there in some form or other.”
Justin was born in Toledo, Ohio. His father was in the military.
“I came here in 1988 from Germany. My dad first got stationed here at Fort Bragg, the 82nd Airborne. My dad retired in 1999. I went to high school here, then to college here,” Lozada said.
Physical training
The cadets at the academy are training three mornings each week for the final physical fitness test in November.
The officers-in-training received their second physical assessment this month but did not practice for the Police Officer’s Physical Abilities Test. The POPAT is required by the state for graduation and includes running, sit-ups, push-ups, stair climbing, remembering an address and rescuing a 150-pound dummy.
The second test, administered Sept. 13, consisted of running 1.5 miles, weightlifting, step climbing, vertical jump, and timed push-ups and sit-ups.
“I want everyone to get a good score today,” Police Spc. Ron Campbell said. “If not, when I do PT on Wednesday, you’ll pay the piper.”
Orr and Lozada improved their scores in each testing area, and the class continues to progress, said police Spc. Willie Cain.
In addition to problems with the run, Lozada struggled last month to post a satisfactory score for push-ups and sit-ups completed in one minute.
But on the second assessment Sept. 13, Lozada calmly spread his arms, placed his hands on the mat and lowered his body so that his chin touched the fists of his partner. Forty push-ups. One minute. No problem.
Lozada improved by nine push-ups over his August assessment; Orr improved by three.
“Watch out, y’all. My man Lozada is on the move. He has to get the most improved,” Campbell said.
The run was the final test for the exercise - six laps on the blacktop, through the pines and buildings of the academy complex. Six laps equal 1.5 miles.
Orr, who said she has dropped a pants size since training began, took her place among her classmates. Orr wears a short ponytail. She continues to polish her nails and maintains a French manicure. Orr removes her wedding ring for the physical training but keeps the diamond band securely fastened to her shoelaces.
Others took bets on who would be fastest. Orr ignored the banter.
“I don’t pay attention to them. They all take off like it’s their life. As long as I do well, that’s great,” she said.
She finished in 13:29 - two minutes better than in August.
Lozada was among the second group of runners. Think about pleasurable things, Cain told the cadets. Focus on improving, said Cain, who leads the physical fitness part of training.
Lozada ran the entire 1.5 miles without stopping. In August, he walked most of the way.
Campbell gave him a big thumbs-up, then called out:
“Justin, that was a big improvement, a three-minute improvement.”
Good job, the instructors told the class.
“I’d have been disappointed if not,” Orr said. “I can tell each day in PT I’m doing better. It’s not that easy.”
Cain said Orr showed the most improvement, progressing in all areas. Lozada wasn’t far behind, he said.
“He’s a big guy. He went from 25.1 percent to 40 percent, from poor to fair,” Cain said.
Campbell said the percentage is based on a complex formula that considers factors such as age and gender.
“Here you have different types of people with different backgrounds or physical fitness levels. It’s normal to start off slow and build,” Campbell said.
“You’ve got ones like Lozada. He always gives 120 percent when he comes here. On Monday, we were doing tower runs and he did it until he threw up,” Campbell said.
He said Orr was in good shape and could keep up with the “well fit” group. He said he plans to break the class into two groups according to their fitness levels.
“We need to work with (Lozada) on running. He’s 22 years old, and the younger you are the tougher the requirements are,” Cain said.
He anticipates Lozada will improve an additional 25 percent to 30 percent before the final test.
“The class as a whole, the average is good,” Cain said. “Overall, they’re looking good.”
Cain said cadets sometimes limit themselves through negativity. As an example, the first time Orr was tested in weightlifting, she bench-pressed 67 pounds. She hesitated to take on more weight on the second test Sept. 13 but managed to push 30 pounds more.
Cain told her she was attempting to lift 67 pounds, including the bar, when in fact she was facing a 97-pound press.
“Sometimes (Orr) says, ‘I can’t do this and that,’ and I tell her she can. It’s in her mind.”
In the next few weeks, students will learn to drive patrol cars, train to use firearms and learn self-defense, among other things.
Lozada and Orr say they are anxious about the weapons training. “I’m worried I won’t do well. I want to,” Orr said.
“I’ve never fired a gun before,” Lozada said. “It’s nothing like the movies, but I don’t know what to expect.”