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Health & Fitness

BLOG: I Didn't Get Tasered

Adventures at the Eagan Police Department Citizens Academy.

I turned down the chance to get tasered. Didn’t seem like a good idea. I’ll soon enter my 8th decade of life, and I do have some “heart history.” But I did meet police dogs Zebo and Badger. I handled a big block of marijuana and some cocaine and some meth. I learned about identity theft and internet crime, about drunken driving and homicide and narcotics. For four hours on a Friday night I rode with a police officer on patrol. With a Glock air gun in my hand I faced simulations that forced me to decide whether to shoot and when to shoot and, for that matter, who to shoot. I learned about the police chaplains, the Eagan Citizens Crime Prevention Association and the Police Explorers. This week I’ll be going to the police firing range to shoot real guns for the first time in my life. It was all part of the 2012 Eagan Police Department Citizens Academy.

I’ll remember those experiences, but even more I will remember the people I met from the Eagan Police Department. These are outstanding public servants, people Eagan can be proud of. Every day they face situations that have the potential of putting their lives in danger. It’s simply what they do. They see us at our worst, which brings out the best in them.

There is a common stereotype of police officers as hard-bitten, cynical, chip on the shoulder types who get their kicks out of giving speeding tickets and hassling kids. I met a number of officers during the academy, and none of them fit that description. The officers I met were moms and dads, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives. The officers I met were warm and open and willing to answer the sometimes-stupid questions of an outsider like me. The officers I met were people who care about public safety, and have devoted their lives to it. To some extent our lives are in their hands every day. Having met them, I know that those are good hands.

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It isn’t always fun. Tracking down child pornography on computers isn’t fun; you’ve got to look at a lot of it. Carrying the news of a death isn’t fun, but it has to be done. Working narcotics undercover isn’t fun, but if the public is to be protected, somebody has to do it. Our officers are doing these things because they need to be done. We’re lucky to have them.

And then there is this: our police officers train all the time to polish essential skills they hope they never have to use. They spend hours every month on the firing range; but most never fire their weapons. They are prepared for hostage situations, barricaded holdouts, plane crashes. Perhaps they will never need to use those skills, but if they do, the skills need to be there, and they will be.

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I am grateful to the Eagan Police Department for the opportunity to be a part of the Citizens Academy. Special thanks to Chief James McDonald and Officer Danielle Anselment and Crime Prevention Specialist Jill Ondrey, the program coordinators. Citizens of Eagan—we’ve got a great police department.

Sign up for the 2013 Citizens Academy will begin on the first business day in January. The course fills us fast; sign up early for a great experience.

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