Any suggestions guys? It's a 5 day a week academy about 4 hrs from my hometown. I'll be there for 6 months.

Enjoy pepperspray. Get in shape, start running and study. Keep your mouth shut and ears open. It's all about procedures. Listen when they talk about "downing a duck" and the psychology of the criminal mind. Every criminal is running some kind of scam to get something out of you. I take it this is a corrections type job?



Be firm, fair and consistent. I always tell my new trainees to be cordial, until it's time to not be so cordial. Have a plan and a backup plan, always.



Did you ever work in LE before or security? That would help you some, but not needed. You will have the kind of day you set out to have. If you want to have a good day and no problems, you can probably do that. Don't be badge heavy when you start out. You have authority, but you are outnumbered greatly and they know it. Keep that in mind. Work with your partners, not against them. They are your backup.



Godd luck!

This will be for a deputy sheriff job. Docjt is dept of criminal justice training. It's the basic police academy for all law enforcement in ky except for the troopers.

1st post nails it.

especially the ears, mouth, badge heavy parts...

Good luck, and have fun!

Looks like you'll be in the same class as a guy I know.

Follow instructions. They keep you really busy these days, but some still find time to do stupid shit. They have an olympic class gym and if you're serious this is the perfect time to bulk up and get really fit. Compared to other states, Kentucky has a very good academy and you can learn a lot if you keep an open mind.

Depending on your previous experience (LEO/MIL) be prepare for some frustration.  Overall it's not bad training, but I have a few issues with their mindset and methodology in the Basic Academy.

Too much time spent on "feel good" subjects and not near enough on defensive tactics, firearms, driving, cqb, etc.  Admittedly, yes these type classes are typically more fun.  They're also what my save your life and/or prevent officers from causing injury/death to others.   Effective Communications a joke for the most part.  In addition to never yelling or using profanity, they were adamant that certain buzzwords like "relax" or "calm down" would cause people to go into a violent frenzy.  Several instructors were adamant that you could gain compliance from anyone and everyone by simply speaking softly and calmly.  

Much of the training is geared towards how an officer/deputy with a more rural agency would respond.  There were numerous instances where I was forced to train in that manner despite my being employed by a larger agency which does not have the same issues with unavailable backup.

I was also quite frustrated with the fact that I had a curfew and the ZERO TOLERANCE policy concerning alcohol.  These two policies came about from incidents involving recruits in previous years.  DOCJT's apparent response was to throw out blanket policies instead of dealing with individual issues.  IMHO this is a failure in leadership.  They explained that they needed to do this because recruit officers must get used to being professional (i.e. Not hungover/exhausted from partying before shift).  That's all well and good except that that isn't teaching discipline, it's regimenting discipline.  Without someone to enforce these behaviors what's to prevent these new LEOs from being irresponsible upon graduation?  I'd much rather identify and deal with problems in training than out in the real world.

This isn't a rant against the instructors themselves as the vast majority are very professional and appear to exert every effort towards providing adequate training to recruits.

Good luck to you man.  Keep your eyes and ears open.  Learn all that you can and realize that training never stops.  Seek out any and all appropriate training you can.  Even if it's sometimes on your own time and dime.  Too many LEOs only train when made to do so.  Technology and HSLD gear are nice, but both are far less significant than good training.

Update on how it's going?