I recently attended the police academy. I made it through the course fairly easily, and did so as the class Sergeant, and the recipient of the Outstanding Student award. There are a few things I noticed that made it easy to be highly successful in the class. These are keys to success in the police academy, but they also work in many other avenues of life. These same keys to success will serve you very well in the military, or any high-stress job.
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Keep in mind that none of these things require any talent at all. I have absolutely zero talent. Any modest level of skill or success I have is because of hard work put in – no talent necessary. I point that out because each and every one of these ten keys to success in the police academy is accessible to you. All you have to do is make the effort.
Every Day is a Job Interview
The class director made a comment on Day 1 that stuck with me: “every day is a job interview.” I heard variations of this throughout my military career. The gist of this, if you don’t know, is that people are always looking at you. They are watching when you slack on a workout, get pissed at snap at another student, complain, roll in just in the nick of time, or show up missing books or out of uniform. All of that stuff goes into their general impression of you. And people talk.
Every day is a job interview.
You may already have a job with a department when you go to the academy, or – like me – you may not. Regardless you want to put your best foot forward. If you don’t have a job, who do you think is going to get hired first:
- the student who may struggle academically, but his/her uniform is immaculate, is always on time and always works hard, puts out during PT, is always first to volunteer to mop the classroom or pick up brass, and always has an encouraging word for another classmate, OR
- the dude with a high GPA but is chronically late, in a wrinkled uniform, slacks off at PT, is always the first out the door when class is dismissed, and is a low-key dick to other students?
Even if you do have a job, who do you think will be in line for the best shift, the plum assignment, the top pick for additional training?
Here’s how to stand out in a good way and be that guy.
1. Be On Time
In the Marine Corps we had a saying: if you’re ten minutes early, you’re five minutes late. The point of this was that fifteen minutes early is the standard. In observing my fellow police academy students, I noticed that most of them intuitively understood this. As the class sergeant, I never told them to be fifteen minutes early, yet most were. And yet… There is always one guy rolling in later than everybody else. He might not be late, but everyone else is standing there, looking around for the person who shows up one minute before PT starts. Don’t do that; no one wants to work with the letter-of-the-law guy who shows up “technically” on time.
If you’re ten minutes early, you’re five minutes late.
~ Common Marine Corps aphorism
Running late is somewhat understandable if you work a job and it lets out late, or have some similar situation (in which case, you better be shit-hot in every other aspect). It is not understandable if you are fresh out of college and don’t have a job. Get to class on time so your squad leader can get accountability for you. Hell, PT might even start a little early if everyone else is there, giving you a little extra time to shower.
If you are going to be unavoidably late: Being late sometimes happens to the best of us. If you are going to be late, CALL. As one of my old platoon sergeants used to say, “bad news doesn’t get better with age.” Call whoever you’re supposed to call – instructor cadre, class leader, whatever – and let them know, preferably before you are late. If it’s for a stupid reason (I overslept, I lost track of time, whatever) just be honest. You might get some paper, but in a week it’ll be behind you if it’s an isolated event.
Oh, and one more thing: if you don’t have a watch, it’s time to buy a fucking watch (yes, I prefer a dumb watch to a smart watch). You’ll need it the rest of your career anyway.
2. Look Sharp
Showing up on time, consistently, is probably the biggest impression you can make. Showing up looking good has a multiplicative effect. If you do these two things, you’ll be way out ahead of the curve. Now, you don’t have to go crazy overboard here. I was issued hand-me-down Polos for the class. They were pretty picked up from the previous guy who wore them, so I wasn’t looking like a fashion model. I was still able to present a very good appearance by doing just a few things. You will to, if you:
- Keep your clothes/uniform clean. It’s not that hard. If you don’t have a washing machine, someone in your class does, or there’s probably one on campus.
- Iron your uniform. You should own an iron and ironing board.
- Tuck your shirt in. It blows my mind to see students with untucked shirts.
- Polish your boots. You don’t need a parade gloss but they should be clean and shiny. Buy a shoe-shine kit and some shoe polish. Polish them on the weekends, then buff them each day before class. Lather, rinse, repeat.
- Get a haircut, at least every three to four weeks. You know when you need one. So does everyone else.
- Keep facial hair neat. You guys know I wear a beard, but I keep it neatly trimmed, and keep the rest of my face shaved.
These simple things won’t require a ton of effort. But I promise, done consistently, showing up on time and looking sharp will elevate you to the top 25% of the class.
3. Put Out
Instructors will notice who is making an effort and who is not. In the military we called this “putting out.” You don’t have to be the strongest or fastest guy or gal in the class. You don’t have to a stud, ready to pound out endless kettlebell swings, or crush multiple 5-minute miles. But one of the keys to success in the police academy (or boot camp, or anything with a physical component) is to put out. This means making an effort.
The person putting out is easy to spot. They are usually among the first to line up to do something. On the track, they are the ones who can’t talk because they are completely winded. They are the ones soaked in sweat at the end of a workout, and the students who are always doing something during practical exercises (putting out doesn’t only apply to PT).
On the other hand there is the person not putting out – every time you look up from your own pushups, this person is on their belly. Every time you look back in the run, they are waaay in the back, walking. By the third lap on the track they are carrying on a conversation with someone and walking more than running.
Again, this doesn’t only apply to PT. It also applies to group assignments, defensive tactics, subject control, and anything else that requires a little effort. Don’t be the person who always go last (we had a couple of those guys). Don’t be the person the instructor has to call out and say, “you need to get. in here and do ___.” Whatever you’re doing, give max effort. Push yourself until you are uncomfortable. Even if you can’t do some physical thing, keep moving, keep trying, and keep putting out effort. Trust me, it will be noticed.
4. Don’t Be a Complainer
No one likes a complainer. I was this guy years ago. Thanks to Randy Paush’s excellent book, The Last Lecture, I have excised a lot of these tendencies from myself. Now that I’m not complaining, it really stands out in others. This was especially true for complaints about physical training (PT). I heard quite a few versions of “the way to get in shape is x, y, and z – not this Crossfit shit!” I get it, PT sucks. It especially sucks when you are out of shape. But complaining about it only brings you and everyone around you down. It doesn’t make PT suck any less, so just stop complaining and work.
Remember that whole “every day is a job interview” thing? That applies here. Complaining is not a good look. No one is eager to hire someone who is constantly bitching and moaning and asking “why” – “why this,” “why us,” why now,” “why that way” and on and on.
5. In Fact, Just Keep Your Mouth Shut
Don’t be this guy. There were a couple of students in my class who liked to tell stories.Usually these stories are some personal anecdote designed to demonstrate how much the student already knows about the topic. In our class we had several students who were already sworn and working with Sheriff’s Offices, and some doubtlessly knew some things.
However, most of the instructors had a one to two decades of experience. While the guy with four months of experience is telling a story about serving a restraining order, he’s not hearing the Captain with fifteen years talk about it. Neither is the rest of the class. Who would you rather be taught by? You have two ears and one mouth; unless you are asked to weigh in on subject, just keep your mouth shut during class.
During this class there were a few topics that I knew more about than instructors. Suppress the urge to correct them – especially in front of others – and move on. My secret weapon during the class was the following simple phrase: “yes sir.” If I was told, “don’t hold your gun like that” I would simply say, “yes sir.” If was told I was wrong about something – even if I knew I was right – I would simply say, “yes sir.” It didn’t hurt my ego, didn’t make me feel ingenuous, just got me through the day.
6. Maintain a Respectful Demeanor
You may be tempted to think of some academy treatment as demeaning or degrading. Trust me – I’m older than many of my instructors and I’ve passed much harder qualifications than many of them. I’ve been successful in many careers and walks of life (and so have some of them). I knew most of them, and was friendly with many of them before class convened. It may seem like a hit to my pride to be deferential to guys who were my buddy the day before class started.
When I’m in class, however, it’s, “yes, sir,” and “no ma’am,” and “may I run to the restroom, Lieutenant?” Don’t lose that respectful demeanor as class progresses. It can be easy – especially with instructors and cadre who are there long-term – to let your guard down. Unless they explicitly tell you to call them by their first names, always strive to err on the side of formality. This is probably the military institutionalized nature coming out, but I called everyone by rank and name unless explicitly told otherwise: Chief Jones, Captain Brown, Lieutenant Smith, Sergeant Anderson…whatever. I cringed when I heard someone refer to a police chief as “what time do you want us back, Jones?” Err on the side of being respectful. Always.
7. Help Others Out
This one might seem a little counterintuitive. Everything in the police academy is a competition, but one of the unofficial events to win is “best team player.” When you’re on the road you won’t be an island. You will have to play nice with others. Other cops, medics, firefighters, citizens, criminals, suspects, bystanders, victims, witnesses, the mentally disturbed, adults, children, the elderly… You will work against a few of these and need to work with the vast majority.
The cadre aren’t looking for someone who can win at the expense of others. Help your buddies out. Help out the people you don’t really like. Don’t run with the slow guy and short-change yourself during a workout, but offer encouragement during PT. If you finish first, do another lap with the stragglers. Have a couple extra pens so you can loan someone one when they forget theirs. If you see someone has forgotten to put on his or her gunbelt, politely remind them before class starts. Help your classmates out; it will be noticed and it reflects very well on you.
8. Get Plenty of Sleep
If you’ve followed me much at all you know that I value plenty of high-quality sleep. I’ve done a podcast episode on sleep hygiene and an article about some tools to help you sleep better. Getting plenty of sleep will allow you to learn more, faster. It will help speed up cognitive processes, and improve memory and recall. Even better, it will help your body make good use of all the PT you get during the academy by building muscle and boosting your immune system.
I attended a night class. On PT nights class was from 5:30 – 11, on non-PT nights it was 6-10. This required some adjustment in my sleep schedule. Still, I did all I could to sleep well. Don’t go out boozing, don’t stay up late watching TV. Have some discipline: build a nighttime ritual, get off of “screens,” cut caffeine after noon, cut alcohol off early, and make your room dark and cold. One of the biggest keys to success in the police academy and life is to get plenty of high-quality sleep.
9. Prepare
Be prepared, big picture and in the details. Something that will make the police academy massively easier is a bit of preparation. You will do physical training the police academy. You may be tempted to look at some out-of-shape cops , or cops and think, “how hard could it be?” Likewise, you may look at some cops who don’t seem terribly intelligent and think, “you obviously don’t have to be very intelligent.” To be honest, I know because I had a bit of this syndrome. Still, I had enough good sense to prepare.
Even if you are only a couple weeks out, doing two runs and two full-body workouts will go a LONG WAY toward helping you out. You’ll get over that initial shock of working out and the soreness that comes with it. You won’t make massive gains in a couple weeks but you will make life easier for yourself once class gets going.
Detail preparedness means showing up every day with the stuff you need. Have your gun belt, pens, books, laptop, charging cable, clothes for after PT, etc. You know what you need to have; make sure you have it, every day.
10. Take Pride In Yourself and What You’re Doing
This one is last on my list but it is the most important one. If you do this, the rest will fall into place. You are here for a reason (wherever you may be, whatever challenge you are undertaking). Be proud to be there and take pride in how you look. For example, during PT we frequently ran on a track at a public park. Some of my classmates had no qualms about walking for much of the run. I had a big problem with this, and not only because they were the students who needed to work the hardest and had the most room for improvement.
This bothered me because I was proud of what I was doing. We were in public, being watched by Citizens. What message did it send that half of us were just sandbagging our way through a PT session? If you always take pride in yourself and what you’re doing, you won’t have to worry about who is around to see it.
