(AP Photo) |
By David Tarrant
Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — It takes 1,300 hours of training over 32 weeks before a recruit can graduate from the academy and join the Dallas police force – a schedule that mixes long hours of class work with intensive field training.
But no lesson plan can ever completely prepare someone for the unpredictable nature of police work, where an ordinary traffic stop can go south in a split second.
On a week that saw the violent death of a police officer in the line of duty, recruits spoke not about looking for a job with a steady paycheck, but of answering a calling that might require them to knock on the door of a gun-wielding drug dealer.
About 100 recruits attended the funeral for Senior Cpl. Norman Smith last week. The 43-year-old officer, a member of the Dallas police gang unit, was killed Tuesday while serving a warrant at a crime-ridden apartment complex in east Oak Cliff.
As the recruits gathered to board three buses taking them to The Potter’s House church in Dallas, they talked about what motivated them to train for work that could be both rewarding and dangerous.
On a day when the news reports showed record unemployment levels, none of the recruits talked about job security. Instead, they spoke of following a dream and wanting to do something meaningful.
At 44, Thomas Coval had spent years in soul-deadening jobs that had taken him far beyond his boyhood dream: to become a police officer and help his community by putting away the bad guys. Instead, Coval had drifted into sales – first with cars, then advertising.
“One day, I came home from work, and I said to my kids, ‘Whatever you do in life, make sure it’s what you want to do. Don’t be miserable like your dad.’ ”
His daughter, Shelby, 15, responded with a challenge: “Dad, why don’t you just follow your dream?”
That was last May. Coval, a Keller resident, took several months to get in shape and quit smoking, dropping 20 pounds. He started at the academy last fall. “I am not a Dallas police officer yet, but there is a bond of brotherhood,” he said, especially after the death of a colleague. “You feel for the officer’s family. It’s one of your own.”
Lt. Vernon Hale, 39, who took over as commander of basic training in November, said there is no specific set of traits that he and other instructors look for in recruits – primarily because there are so many types of police work.
“It’s an extremely diverse group of traits,” said Hale, a 17-year veteran of the force. “We’re not trying to create robots, we’re trying to create police officers.”
Different recruits have different things to offer, he said. Some might make good investigators, others good administrators. “We’re looking for a diverse set of skills and abilities,” Hale said.
But no recruit can be successful without an abundance of one particular quality.
Desire.
“If you’re just here for a paycheck, it’s going to be very difficult for you. Those motivated by money don’t stay very long,” Hale said. “Are you mentally able to survive? If you do find yourself in a deadly-force confrontation, will you be mentally ready to fight through that?”
For some recruits, the danger of police work is also shared by a spouse.
Dasha Williams, 25, of DeSoto, who started at the academy last month, is married to Rogers Williams, a Dallas police officer. Her husband loves his job, she said, and she’s ready to share his passion – even after the dangers underscored this past week.
“It puts things in perspective,” she said. “Even though it was unexpected, you can’t let your guard down, ever.”
At least one recruit has personal experience with the dangers that officers face daily. Louis Pacheco, 31, of Red Oak spent six years as a DART police officer and is due to graduate May 15.
In 2004, he answered a call that three juveniles were threatening harm to a bus driver. When he arrived, two of the young men jumped him, leaving him with bruises and lacerations on his face and head.
He needed 10 days to recover and a few more to get over feeling “leery” on patrol. But he never considered quitting. He likes the work too much.
“It’s the interaction with the community, with the people you deal with, that feeling of doing good things, like taking criminals off the street or helping a victim out,” he said. “Besides that, it’s the different things you see and encounter every day.”
After two months as the academy’s commander, Hale will watch his first class of recruits graduate Friday. He said he feels proud and anxious, like a parent watching his kids leave home.
“From Day One, you start worrying about these folks the moment they walk in the door,” Hale said.
Copyright 2009 Dallas Morning News
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