Robert Powell is Director of the 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 Basic Law Enforcement Training program. For further information on the program, contact Powell 电话:(919)777-7774或发邮件至 rpowell@预备.edu. 或者，在www上了解更多有关该计划的信息.预备.edu/blet/.
SANFORD - She was only supposed to be a chaperone when Carol 刘易斯 agreed to accompany her son on a field trip to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol Training Academy. 但当她在院子里闲逛的时候, 了解该机构的文化和历史, 刘易斯 started wondering what a career in law enforcement might be like for her.
她当时是一名就业顾问, a state administrator who reviewed unemployment claims when people were fired or quit. 这份工作给她带来了不错的收入，而且她对自己的工作并不感到不开心. 尽管如此，她还是一直在想那次去州公路巡警的事.
然后，她采取了行动. 经过激烈的申请程序，她被学院录取了. 但随后，她不太可能的旅程又出现了奇怪的转折, 刘易斯膝盖受伤，不得不放弃训练. “我想我完了，”她回忆道. “我没有钱. 没有工作."
That's when her highway patrol recruiter suggested 刘易斯 enroll in Basic Law Enforcement Training at 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院. 她抓住了这个机会. 离开警校两周后, 她的膝盖还戴着护膝, she drove to Sanford to pursue the plan and left with an acceptance letter and financial assistance.
即使她的膝盖恢复了，挑战仍然是艰巨的. 刘易斯是班上年龄最大的，是一位每天五点半起床的单身母亲.m. to avoid the worst traffic between her home in Raleigh and the Emergency Services Training Center in Sanford. On the other hand, where else could she launch a new and rewarding career in just a few months?
So, 她就是这么做的, successfully completing her training three years ago in December and beginning her new career two months later at NC State University, where she currently is a police officer in their crime prevention unit, 直接与学生合作, 教职员工加强公共安全.
“这改变了我们俩的生活,她说, looking back on that field trip with her son and the career it launched. “这是我一生中做过的最好的决定之一."
资讯科技至SRO
As 推荐正规买球平台's Department Chair of Public Safety and Basic Law Enforcement Training Director, 罗伯特·鲍威尔对刘易斯记忆犹新, 称她“卑微”, but talented person who has the 'it' factor" and "a tremendous leader who will be a police chief some day." He also uses her example to make the point that Basic Law Enforcement Training students come from all different walks of life.
然后他提出了另一个典型的例子:大卫·绍, someone Powell calls "one of the hardest working cadets who ever went through this academy."
Schau currently works as a deputy sheriff and school resource officer at Warren Williams Alternative Elementary in Sanford, where he helps create a safe and orderly environment for young children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. But less than two years before accepting that position, he was a former U.S. Air Force computer maintenance specialist working in the information technology sector, where he held a variety of positions over 25 years until being caught up in a business contraction and laid off from his job.
The shift from information technology to deputy sheriff may seem strange enough. But here's the kicker: On the second day of Basic Law Enforcement Training, Schau庆祝了他的60岁生日. “我觉得是上帝在召唤我, 所以我知道, 在我心中, 我必须付出100%的努力,Schau说. "I was three times the age of the youngest cadet in my class and it was going to take me two weeks longer than the kids to get dialed in."
但他被拨通了电话, even after securing a clean bill of health from colon surgery just a few weeks before the first day of class and working to catch up with his younger classmates. 现在, Schau得到了他想要的工作, in a setting he's loved ever since he started reading to students years ago as a volunteer in his wife's second grade classroom. 当他第一次有进入执法部门的想法时, 他知道成为一名学校资源官是他的使命, 一切都井然有序.
传统学生也一样
Not all Basic Law Enforcement Training students enter the field mid-career or even as retirees. 约翰西·霍尔布鲁克走的是更为传统的道路, finishing her associate degree in criminal justice at 推荐正规买球平台 before working in the family restaurant until she was old enough to enroll in the academy.
这是她一直想做的事. 她四个兄弟中有一个在执法部门工作, 太, 另一个是军队的狱警, 因此，霍尔布鲁克也将不可避免地进入这个领域. But even she had to overcome some obstacles to make her dreams come true. 简而言之，她的家人对这个想法持保留态度.
“并不是我的家人不希望我这样做, 但他们明白这可能很危险,霍尔布鲁克说. "I was their only girl, so they didn't particularly like the idea, but they support me 100 percent."
Holbrook says she needed that support because the program was so rigorous. She goes into detail about how difficult the testing was -- how she worried for days before each exam and realized that, 她是班上最年轻的学生, 她没有像她的许多同龄人那样为训练带来那么多经验.
然后是“红人”.“这是培训的一部分, students learn combative techniques in case they're needed to control and arrest people on the street. 然后, they demonstrate what they've learned by fighting an instructor dressed in red padding from head to toe. 两分钟. 除了一根警棍什么都没有.
她这辈子从没跟人打过架, 霍尔布鲁克说，当她踏上垫子时，她很紧张, 她也接受了她的接触. But she made it to the end and remained smiling the entire time "so they didn't know if I was crazy or didn't know what to do with myself."
现在, Holbrook also is an officer on the NC State University Police Department, having emerged from the "Red Man" experience -- and all of her law enforcement training -- proud of her accomplishment. 她称这“可能是我做过的最艰难的事情”."
大景点
虽然他们来自不同的方向和行业, 基础执法训练的学生有一些共同点.
鲍威尔说，很多人都想测试自己，比如霍尔布鲁克, 他形容他“精神顽强，永不放弃”, 无论是身体上还是智力上." And they have a genuine desire to serve others and give back to their community -- including 刘易斯, who carries that sense of public service into the community as volunteer coach for the Carolina Eagles Track and Field Club in Raleigh.
但另一个吸引人的地方, 鲍威尔说, 为面试做准备的机会重要吗, rewarding career in just 16 weeks taking day classes or less than eight months in the evening. "They each overcame the odds and now they serve as law enforcement officers in their communities,鲍威尔这样评价他以前的学生, 刘易斯, Schau和Holbrook. "Where else can you find results that quickly but at a community college?"
预备腐烂
For further information on the 推荐正规买球平台 Basic Law Enforcement Training program, 联系罗伯特·鲍威尔, 腐烂的导演, 电话:(919)777-7774或发邮件至 rpowell@预备.edu. 或者，在网站上了解更多关于这个项目的信息 www.预备.edu/blet.
Robert Powell is Director of the 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院 Basic Law Enforcement Training program. For further information on the program, contact Powell 电话:(919)777-7774或发邮件至 rpowell@预备.edu. 或者，在www上了解更多有关该计划的信息.预备.edu/blet/.