Brooke Labell takes aim
Range Master Vicki Skill leads recruits through the six shooting fundamentals at the Cape May County Public Safety Training Academy range.
So he has been the guy who will look over anybody’s daily report and perhaps eliminate a spelling error and avoid the dreaded writing out of a misspelled word 200 times. More succinctly,
Collins believes his responsibility is to set the same kind of example for his Academy sisters and brothers as he would for his
2-year-old son who waits to see him every weekend.
“There’s nothing I want more than to see people succeed, and,
as officers, that is how we need to be dealing with the public,” he
explains. “And I also want to make sure we don’t get too relaxed.
In this Academy, they have taught us about the 10 deadly sins
of law enforcement, and No. 7 is relaxing too soon. We’re in the
home stretch, but we still need to give our all every day.”
Still, Nagel has indicated all along that he will know if these
recruits are really becoming cops when he sees the light go on.
Maybe it’s starting to. Recruit Brooke Labell apparently saw the
light during a recent practical block addressing response to domestics.
“Going through all the simulations, you learn what actually
happens as opposed to what you see on TV,” Labell confirms.
“Now, everything they did in the beginning, all the pressure they
put on us, everything they did to make us nervous is making
sense. They have been trying to prepare us. I know I am more
disciplined now.”
Talk about a big bolt of electricity, however. A shock wave came
during a simulation training for sniper ambush.
“With everything that’s going on in policing, hopefully that will
never happen to any of us,” asserts Recruit Andrew Peahota. “But
it tells us that we always have to stay sharp.”
So the reality of law enforcement rigors is beginning to change
lives. And nowhere more so than on the range. Range Week first
accentuated safety then focused on the six shooting fundamentals. The objective targeted ongoing development.
“We wanted to get the message across that whether you are a
law enforcement officer, an electrician or a plumber, you have to
be skilled with your tools,” emphasizes Tony Saduck, one of the
Cape May Public Safety Training Center range masters. “They still
have to learn how to make the six fundamentals flow naturally
to apply them in a confrontation that lasts a second-and-a-half.”
So here at the Academy it’s not a video game. Recruits can’t
keep hitting the play again button or continue feeding quarters
until they qualify. They had maybe four attempts, so the pressure
was high. But they need this pressure, and then some, because
when they do get to the real world and have to fire their weapons,
most likely somebody will be firing back.
And so after a week on the range, the telling evidence that
these recruits might just make it to the real world came: 52 went
into Range Week and 52 came out. d
Could her journey
be coming to an end?
Recruit
Labell
came into the Cape
May Police Academy via the Alternate
Route program, so
she had no guaranteed job after graduation. Two days before
the start, she did get
an offer from the Delaware State Police,
“but I wanted to stay
in New Jersey and be
more involved as a
municipal police officer.”
As of this writing, however, she had an opportunity with an
NJ agency pending some final details. She says she won’t count
on anything until she is sworn in, but some department is going
to be very lucky to get a recruit who has come such a long way.
Consider that prior to Range Week, she had never fired a
weapon. But she qualified, and has gained perspective on what
it takes to be a good cop.
“In physical training, it used to be about wanting to do well,
finishing first and being the best,” Labell confides. “But it has
become more clear that what I’m here for is to help the team. If
I have to stay behind in runs to make sure everybody finishes,
we’re here to help people. That’s what pertains to the job and I
think I have found my calling.” d
No time to relax for
Andrew Peahota
When returning home on weekends, Recruit Peahota has
taken to calling his dad, “sir.”
Even when the class was given its first Liberty to venture off
campus for an evening, he went for a quick dinner and tried to
keep it low-key. The night out ended before 9 p.m., so he could
return to the barracks to get ready for the next day.
The Academy way has become his way of life, and the week
on the range especially confirmed what the perspective needs
to be to make it the final month.
“You have to take it day by day and make sure you take every
class to the full extent,” Peahota reminds. “You can never get
enough training. Even with something small, you have to treat
it as something big.” d
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■ DECEMBER 2016 77