Sunday New York City

After a few hours sleep last night we boarded the bus’s at 9am again. Our first stop should be a good one. Were going on a harbor tour with the NYPD and FDNY.

Upon our arrival we boarded a monster FDNY boat and were taken out on the Hudson River. What views we saw from the water.

Ellis Island

Brooklyn Bridge

Our next stop was One World Trade Center. We were taken up to the 81st floor and given time to walk around and take photos of the New York/New Jersey area. We were joined by Tim Brown. Tim spoke earlier this week at the NA. Not all of our session were able hear his personal story about his experience on 9/11. Last week he told my class that he would meet up with us. While up in the tower he spoke to our group.

Tim Brown

We then visited the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The museum itself is below ground where the twin towers were. There are two reflecting pools in the locations where the towers stood.

Original steel columns cut off

This is a steel column that still sits in its original place. There are many memorials, patches and pictures still on it.

Original tower construction below ground level.

At 5pm we left NYC bound for Quantico. Classes start back up tomorrow morning at 0730.

Saturday New York City

We rolled into NYC last night at 10pm. It was quite a long bus ride. After a quick check in we walked around and found a place to eat called Hell’s Kitchen. We walked a bit after but it was quite cold and windy last night.

This morning I got up at 0745. We have to be on the bus and ready to go at 0900.

Our first stop was Floyd Bennett Field where the NYPD Emergency Services Aviation is based. They put on quite the helicopter demonstration for us and provided lunch.

Next we’re headed to NYPD headquarters.

After we left police headquarters we had an option to do what’s called the “Concrete Canyon” walk. It’s an 8 mile walk that started at NYPD headquarters. It was led by one for NA FBI instructors. He took us on a brisk walk halfway out the Brooklyn Bridge then through Chinatown, Little Italy, SOHO, a stop at NYPD Precinct 6, Times Square and ended at our hotel.

We had about an hour and half to relax at the hotel and then everyone went around the corner to Carmine’s for dinner. It did not disappoint. Full four course dinner with multiple appetizers, pastas and entree’s. Antipasto, stuffed mushrooms, calamari, breads, pastas, shrimp scampi, veal and chicken parmigiana. Even the wine and drinks were included. If your in New York you need to check this place out.

We even had a visit from the NYPD Pipe and Drum.

After dinner we headed down to the NYPD Mounted Division and got a tour. This one of many stables the NYPD has.

Friday

I got a call last night at 130am from Barb telling me the power went out. She did a great job getting the generator hooked up and running to keep the house going. The power came back on around 10am.

It’s New York City weekend! Today 180 of us at 3pm will head out on busses bound for two nights in New York City. NYPD has a lot planned for us in a short time.

First thing this morning we had PT. Our instructor knew most of us were headed to New York and she didn’t take it easy on us.

We did a cardio workout consisting of jump rope, dummy drags, lifting and dropping weighted balls over our shoulders, beating up on some dummy bags and boxing. The instructor called it “Fight Club.”

After cardio we went outside and ran 4×400’s on the track.

We have a midterm exam today in Employment Law Issues class.

In my Essentials for Law Enforcement Leaders class we had more good group discussions about hard decisions leaders have to make in the best interest of the organization.

After Essentials class we are now halfway done with the National Academy. I must say that a lot of people here including myself thought the days this week were dragging on. I am happy to be heading home next weekend for the long holiday.

It’s 3pm and we are all on the busses and headed to New York City. Looks like a 5 1/2 hour drive. “Refreshments” are provided on the bus.

We have an escort all the way to the city.

Thursday

Early to rise this morning for a full day of classes.

I’m my Essentials for Law Enforcement Leaders class we broke out into groups for our department Mission and Values Statement project. My group had 5 individuals in it. We had to each bring in our department Mission and Values Statement read them all and choose which one best reflected the questions provided by our instructor.

It was pretty cool that upon the five in our group the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office Mission and Value statement was picked.

Second class of the day was PT. We started with some classroom instruction and then hit the gym. Today was more about upper strength and conditioning but we also went on a half mile run through a wooded area with some hills.

This afternoon in my Violent Crimes class we had an excellent case study on the Joseph Duncan child abductions and murders that occurred in Idaho, Montana and California.

After dinner we had an optional presentation on the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando back in 2016.

Wednesday

Today is fitness challenge day. On the agenda is the “Lions Leap” which is a 5k run around the academy grounds. It’s 48 degrees outside right now so at least the weather will be decent.

The run was tough. A lot of long inclined hills throughout the academy grounds. The worst hills were around mile #2 but we all knocked it out.

This afternoon we had three break out sessions. My first session was Truth in History. We had a speaker from the NYFD. He was at the towers on 9/11 and escaped the collapse of the North Tower.

He talked about losing his two best friends on 9/11 and how it took him 10 years to overcome his PTSD.

He also talked about the first responders from 9/11 who are continuing to die from post 9/11 health complications such as cancer and leukemia.

My second breakout was on managing millennials. Interesting presentation.

My third breakout was on the opioid epidemic by Don Hibbert of the DEA.

I got a mile swim in and did some laundry tonight.

Tuesday

Up first thing this morning for PT class. PT first thing in the morning doesn’t agree with me.

The first part of the workout was 5 stations rotating for 30 minutes. It was a little brutal this morning.

The second part of the workout we went outside and did strides/sprints uphill.

Also this morning I had my Employment Law Issues class. Today we started getting into Labor Laws.

This afternoon my first class was Investigative Strategies for Violent Crime. We did a homicide case study out of Montgomery County, PA. The presenter for the case study was a Lieutenant from the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office who was involved in the case and is also a previously NA graduate.

In my Behavior Science class we had a presentation by Gene Cassidy on surviving a traumatic incident.

Cassidy is a retired Baltimore Police Officer and current FBI employee. Cassidy was shot twice in the head and completely blinded in the line of duty in 1987. He had been an officer for only 3 years. Csssidy remained with Baltimore PD for nearly 30 more years teaching at the police academy.

We went later then usual tonight. After classes we were all in the Auditorium to listen to our section rep speeches and then vote for our session leader who will speak at graduation.

Monday

Another week has started. Today is a full day of classes.

The cafeteria was packed again this morning. Just grabbed some coffee and headed to class.

More of the same this morning on my Employment Law Issues class. Lots of discussion on religious rights of employees.

In my Behavioral Science class we had a presentation on Mental Health. Our presenter instructs psychiatric nurses who work in facilities in and around Richmond, Va. It was a good overview of mental health illnesses and how to effectively deal with persons with these issues.

Also this afternoon we had two different international panels in the auditorium. An international student was paired with a US student and as pairs they came up with topics to discuss related with their duties and laws in their perspective countries.

There were some similarities within the panel but many differences. For example in Romania they have two levels of officers in their police force. One level is basically in our comparison sergeants and below. They train at the police academy for two years and will never hold rank higher than comparable to a sergeant in the US. The other levels are considered officers. They are at the academy for four years where you also take college courses. Most officers in Romania come out of the academy as lawyers.

The counties on the panel were Latvia, Belgium, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Great Britain, Vietnam, Romania, Iceland, Mexico, Thailand, Chad, Lebanon and Australia.

Tonight the National Academy Associates and 5.11 gear hosted a steak dinner for us.

The steaks were huge and the gifts were great!

Sunday

Slept in this morning. The laundry room seems to always be busy so I did laundry last night past midnight.

Today I finished another paper in my Behavioral Science class. It was on the oddest behavior I have seen in a person and why. It wasn’t hard to pick a topic from my work experience.

To date I have all my papers done in two of my classes.

After I finished that up I hit the pool. I went in planning on doing a mile and decided to do two. That’s 20 miles to date and 14 more to go for the brick challenge.

Today’s the Super Bowl. I’m not sure if I’m going to watch it yet. We will see what comes up.

I ended up going to the Boardroom to watch the game. The place was packed. Two more classes arrived at the academy today and it’s my understanding they are here for a week. Needless to say the cafeteria lines at dinner were incredibly long.

Saturday

We got up early this morning and headed to DC. About 50 of us were fortunate enough to get tours of the Pentagon and the US Capitol. The Deputy Chief of the Pentagon Police and some of his staff came in on the weekend and gave us the tour of a basically closed Pentagon.

We started outside at the location the plane struck the Pentagon on September 11th. There is now a memorial there.

The plane came at the Pentagon from the direction of the 3 tiers in the background.

Marine Corps area of the Pentagon.

Gold plated AK-47 taken from Saddam Hussein.

The Hall of Heroes. This is where recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor come the day after the initial ceremony at the White House. The second ceremony is conducted here at the Pentagon.

We then went over the Capitol. We lucked out and got to go places in the Capitol that tourists can’t go.

Picture taken from the terrace where the presidential inauguration takes place.

Rotunda pictures.

Original Supreme Court

This is where George Washington was supposed to be entombed.

Location in the Rotunda where President Bush recently laid in state.

We were able to get into the House chamber and sit in the seats the members of Congress do. We had to leave our cell phones outside the chamber so I have no pictures. While we were in there they were preparing the room for the State of the Union address.

Martin (Nevada DPS) Bill, Steve and I

After the Capitol tour one of our session mates who lives nearby and his wife had us over for dinner. It was really nice to have some homemade dinner.

Friday

Today I have three classes. This morning I have Law Issues and Behavioral Science class.

In Behavioral Science class we had a presentation on the FBI Safeguard Unit. This unit oversees the undercover agent program. We learned how the FBI assesses and chooses undercover agents. All agents chosen must undergo personality testing before, during and after an undercover operation. Prior to being able to work undercover they also must go to a training school. The school itself sounded very challenging mentally and there is a high dropout rate.

In my Violent Crimes case we worked on a case study of a homicide.

Tonight 9 of us went and checked out the City of Alexandria and had dinner.