TheeBadOne
Moderator
ST. PETERSBURG -- In one scene, a man fires a gun into his mouth, causing blood to rush from his nostrils as onlookers scream and cry, ``Oh, my God!''
In another, a victim's leg is nearly severed in a traffic crash.
Toward the end, a woman under arrest spits and curses at an officer.
Sound like a spinoff of ``COPS'' or some other reality show?
It is, in fact, a 10-minute short video produced by the St. Petersburg Police Department that will be shown to all new job applicants starting next year.
Hoping to curb the high number of new officers who quit after costly training, ``Realities of Field Training Officers'' seeks to weed out those with TV-edited, romanticized notions of police work.
``This is straight down and dirty,'' said Maj. Mary E. McDonald, commander of the training division. ``It's not meant to be touchy-feely. We wanted it to be unsettling. We didn't want it to be sterile and edited out like a TV version.''
Nationwide, police departments still struggle to attract and keep officers, said George H. Vuilleumier Jr., president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police based in Titusville.
The reasons range from negative images of police to small departments unable to compete with larger ones. And then some people just aren't cut out for police work, said Vuilleumier, a 46-year veteran officer.
``You have to have a certain personality and resilience, thick skin, if you will,'' he said. ``You're going to get screamed at, kicked at, you might even be shot at, and you can't reduce yourself to the level of the guy you're trying to apprehend. Some people can't handle it.''
That's exactly what St. Petersburg police have found.
So far this year, 19 newly sworn officers have dropped out of post-academy field training, a 3½-month hands-on program. The department, which pays for academy tuition, post-academy training, salary and administrative hiring costs, lost about $34,186.71 per officer or $649,547 total. Last year, 23 new officers quit field training.
``When they get to it, that's when the pressure hits,'' McDonald said.
The video is among several steps the city has taken to keep officers for the long haul.
New applicants now also must ride along with police. And the city recently approved a new contract making salaries more competitive with other area departments.
Even before they fill out an application, potential hires see a much less graphic 2-minute recruiting video. But department officials felt it wasn't real enough for more serious candidates.
The new video is based, in part, on comments in exit interviews made by officers who quit as well as suggestions from rookies, McDonald said. The main complaints: They were surprised and shocked by the amount of paperwork, the intense criminal culture and the mistreatment they suffered from some citizens.
``These are some of the negative aspects of the job but they're real aspects of the job,'' McDonald said. ``The video is a screening tool. You show 'em this. This is what it really is. You sure you still want to do it?''
So the new video opens with police Chief Chuck Harmon warning that officers work erratic hours, including on weekends and holidays. In addition, he says, officers come across people who hate them for no other reason than they wear a badge.
``Some people don't want to be helped or arrested and will physically resist you or flee from you,'' Harmon says. ``You will also encounter unpleasant situations where you will be required to take action.''
In this video, applicants won't find cliche depictions of cops blowing traffic whistles or walking the beat twirling a baton as they chat amiably with residents.
Instead, it includes real-life local and national incidents such as the 1987 public suicide of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer and violent confrontations in 1996 between St. Petersburg police and residents after a fatal police shooting.
It also splices footage of authorities zipping up body bags with interviews from several of St. Petersburg's 539 sworn officers.
For example, they complain about the ``tons and tons of paperwork.''
``How is that hand?'' one officer says to another filling out a report.
``Numb,'' the officer replies.
Reality shows leave out this part of the job, notes a third officer. ``Watching 'Top Cops,' you see the one minute or so of action,'' he says.
``They don't show you how much paperwork's actually involved after that. A couple minutes of fun and it actually turns out to be an hour's worth of paperwork.''
The officers also talk of facing off with unpleasant residents. There's footage of a woman crying and resisting arrest and a man being arrested who says he ``was the best 'ho on this (expletive) boulevard and I am now a retired 'ho.''
``Regardless of what kind of words or attitudes they're slinging, you have to remember: professionalism,'' a female officer says.
``If you're looking for something that's going to make you feel good because everyone's going to say great things about you, you need to find something else to do,'' a male officer adds.
But nothing comes close to matching the grimness of St. Petersburg's new video. ``Every call you go to, it could be your last call,'' one officer says.
And for those turned off by the sobering portrayal, Harmon offers this advice:
``If this video has disturbed you in a profound way or you feel you could not deal with these situations after training, you may want to reconsider becoming a police officer,'' he says.
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In another, a victim's leg is nearly severed in a traffic crash.
Toward the end, a woman under arrest spits and curses at an officer.
Sound like a spinoff of ``COPS'' or some other reality show?
It is, in fact, a 10-minute short video produced by the St. Petersburg Police Department that will be shown to all new job applicants starting next year.
Hoping to curb the high number of new officers who quit after costly training, ``Realities of Field Training Officers'' seeks to weed out those with TV-edited, romanticized notions of police work.
``This is straight down and dirty,'' said Maj. Mary E. McDonald, commander of the training division. ``It's not meant to be touchy-feely. We wanted it to be unsettling. We didn't want it to be sterile and edited out like a TV version.''
Nationwide, police departments still struggle to attract and keep officers, said George H. Vuilleumier Jr., president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police based in Titusville.
The reasons range from negative images of police to small departments unable to compete with larger ones. And then some people just aren't cut out for police work, said Vuilleumier, a 46-year veteran officer.
``You have to have a certain personality and resilience, thick skin, if you will,'' he said. ``You're going to get screamed at, kicked at, you might even be shot at, and you can't reduce yourself to the level of the guy you're trying to apprehend. Some people can't handle it.''
That's exactly what St. Petersburg police have found.
So far this year, 19 newly sworn officers have dropped out of post-academy field training, a 3½-month hands-on program. The department, which pays for academy tuition, post-academy training, salary and administrative hiring costs, lost about $34,186.71 per officer or $649,547 total. Last year, 23 new officers quit field training.
``When they get to it, that's when the pressure hits,'' McDonald said.
The video is among several steps the city has taken to keep officers for the long haul.
New applicants now also must ride along with police. And the city recently approved a new contract making salaries more competitive with other area departments.
Even before they fill out an application, potential hires see a much less graphic 2-minute recruiting video. But department officials felt it wasn't real enough for more serious candidates.
The new video is based, in part, on comments in exit interviews made by officers who quit as well as suggestions from rookies, McDonald said. The main complaints: They were surprised and shocked by the amount of paperwork, the intense criminal culture and the mistreatment they suffered from some citizens.
``These are some of the negative aspects of the job but they're real aspects of the job,'' McDonald said. ``The video is a screening tool. You show 'em this. This is what it really is. You sure you still want to do it?''
So the new video opens with police Chief Chuck Harmon warning that officers work erratic hours, including on weekends and holidays. In addition, he says, officers come across people who hate them for no other reason than they wear a badge.
``Some people don't want to be helped or arrested and will physically resist you or flee from you,'' Harmon says. ``You will also encounter unpleasant situations where you will be required to take action.''
In this video, applicants won't find cliche depictions of cops blowing traffic whistles or walking the beat twirling a baton as they chat amiably with residents.
Instead, it includes real-life local and national incidents such as the 1987 public suicide of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer and violent confrontations in 1996 between St. Petersburg police and residents after a fatal police shooting.
It also splices footage of authorities zipping up body bags with interviews from several of St. Petersburg's 539 sworn officers.
For example, they complain about the ``tons and tons of paperwork.''
``How is that hand?'' one officer says to another filling out a report.
``Numb,'' the officer replies.
Reality shows leave out this part of the job, notes a third officer. ``Watching 'Top Cops,' you see the one minute or so of action,'' he says.
``They don't show you how much paperwork's actually involved after that. A couple minutes of fun and it actually turns out to be an hour's worth of paperwork.''
The officers also talk of facing off with unpleasant residents. There's footage of a woman crying and resisting arrest and a man being arrested who says he ``was the best 'ho on this (expletive) boulevard and I am now a retired 'ho.''
``Regardless of what kind of words or attitudes they're slinging, you have to remember: professionalism,'' a female officer says.
``If you're looking for something that's going to make you feel good because everyone's going to say great things about you, you need to find something else to do,'' a male officer adds.
But nothing comes close to matching the grimness of St. Petersburg's new video. ``Every call you go to, it could be your last call,'' one officer says.
And for those turned off by the sobering portrayal, Harmon offers this advice:
``If this video has disturbed you in a profound way or you feel you could not deal with these situations after training, you may want to reconsider becoming a police officer,'' he says.
article