The Official Word

Congratulations to us! Today, while at a meeting with my parents and the lawyer that is planning their trust/estate (of which I am currently first in line to be trustee upon their eventual expiration...hence my attendance) I received a phone call from Karen at Boise Police Personnel. I stepped out to take the call and she congratulated me for passing the final stage of the hiring process and informed me that my official letter of hiring was in the mail. Huzzah! It was quite exciting news, especially since the application process started back in February.

I think that this event provides me with a nice impetus to inform any of you that are interested about exactly what it takes to become a police officer - at least an officer in Boise, ID (I don't think that the Prod, UT or Arco, ID police departments are quite as rigid in their screening process). Here's how it all happened for us:

1. Early February 2007 - The Decision
As I noticed a light at the end of the education tunnel I began to realize that I may want to do something different with my life (at least temporarily) than I had previously thought. What did I want to do after I completed my master's degree in Psychology? The first thing that came to mind: "I want to be a cop." So I told my wife, and her response was simply, "If you are going to do it then do it. Don't go back and forth on me so that we wind up unemployed in 6 months when you finish school and I stop working." So I took her at her word and looked up what I would need to do to become a police officer. I found that many departments are closed to new applicants until one of their current employees retires. So that narrowed down my potential employment options. Then I looked at Boise Police and found that they were open to any new applications. Great! Then I tried to find out if I needed to attend the police academy somewhere but found out that the recommendation for new applicants is actually to apply to their desired department who will then offer them a job and sponsor them through the academy. That sounded good to me. So I looked up how the application process worked and found out that a test was being held for new applicants on February 22 in Boise - 1 1/2 weeks later. So I signed up, paid my dues, printed my forms, and looked up what I would be doing so I could start getting ready.

2. February 22, 2007 - Tests #1 & 2
I drove to Boise with Mitzi and we stayed at her brother's house for the weekend. I had gotten sick a day or two before we left and I was scheduled to take a written exam at Boise State University on Saturday morning and then, if I passed, a physical test. I showed up and was seated in a large classroom with about 300 other people. Fortunately not all of them were applying for Boise PD, and some of them weren't even police hopefuls. Apparently, this first stage of testing is run by a big state program and tests applicants for police and firefighter positions throughout Idaho, as well as Eastern Washington and some other areas. Then someone came out and asked everyone who was applying to Boise PD to raise their hand. Then they gave us a 35 page packet that we would have to fill out and send in if we passed the day's tests - no other organization got a big packet.

Test #1 was the written exam which was basically a test to see if you could work for one of these organizations without being a total embarrassment. It was pretty dang easy, but the last portion of the test was a personality test that asked you things like, "Do you like participating in group discussions?" and "Do you think using drugs occasionally to unwind is okay?" I hope I lost most of my points on the personality section because I would really need to be ashamed if the 15 or so points I lost came from the questions like "Which of the following is misspelled: fire employee airplain jacket." Yep, it was a doozy, but I still managed an 85 which qualified me to move on to the physical test.

Test #2 was the physical test which was administered at a high school a few blocks from Boise State. It was freezing! The wind was blowing, and while it wasn't snowing, and there actually wasn't any snow on the ground, it was still freezing! Holy smokes! The first test was the 300 meter sprint. If you failed to pass any one of the physical tests you were immediately dismissed and disqualified. I killed on the sprint, beating the high cutoff by about 5 seconds (I think I ran it in 42.5 seconds and the high cutoff was 47 sec. - the low, 77 sec.). Unfortunately, because I hadn't done any sprint training in the 1 1/2 weeks I had to prepare, my thighs and buttocks cramped to high heaven and I was wriggling about on the pavement while the other groups were running trying to stretch and soothe my seizing limbs. What seemed like a very long time of sitting in the cold later, they called the remaining applicants into the school where we did the vertical jump test - no problem. I maxed it easy and about put my hand through the ceiling tile in the hallway where they were testing us. So far, so good. By this time I had made friends with a burly looking but terribly personable local who was applying for his second time. He talked about being a missionary in Mexico and speaking a little Spanish. But then he mentioned something about "Bible College" and I realized I was not in Utah anymore. He was an absolutely wonderful guy, and he helped me with the sit-up test and gave me some tips from his past application experience (he didn't know why he hadn't made it last time and said that they hadn't told him). One of the test administrators gave us a little tip for the next test, the push-ups, and it helped me beat my previous record by 4 - nifty! Unfortunately, push-ups were still my weakest test, but I made it to 30 (my previous maximum was 26) which put me well above the 19 needed to qualify, but nowhere near the 62 maximum that my friend completed without even breaking a sweat - although his upper body was about twice the size of mine. We then did the 1-minute sit-up test and I topped out at about 45 or something, which was pretty good. Then they sent us back out into the cold for the 1 1/2 mile run - the fifth and final test. By this time the group of applicants had shrunk dramatically, and only about 45 ended up qualifying at the end of that day. That 1 1/2 mile run was miserable! The wind had kicked up and it was positively frigid. I ran my guts out, with lungs burning, nose running, mouth dry, and legs cramping, and managed it in 11 min 42 sec. By the end of the testing I had earned 88/100 points on the physical test. When they handed out our score sheets they told us that the highest score for the day was 90, so I felt pretty good about my performance. My testing buddy passed too and we wished each other luck on the next series of tests.

I had successfully completed the first stage of testing and was now told to prepare for the "do-or-die" stage of the application process - the oral interview. The test administrators told us that this is where the majority of applicants are cut and that the officers conducting the interview can tell very easily between those who have prepared for the job and those who have not. I left happy but feeling an acute need to brush up on my interview skills and my knowledge of the Boise Police Department.

It looks like this is going to need to be a series of posts rather than a single post - especially as long winded as I tend to be. But heck, this is my/our blog and I can be as long winded as I want! I will, as a matter of courtesy, at least to try to keep things interesting for you, the readers, so leave me any feedback you feel would help me to this end.

Stay tuned for Tests #3 & 4 - The Oral Interview and The Polygraph! The fun is just beginning.