a car, they better not be looking at the ground. They need to focus on the person whoâs talking to them and stay alert to their surroundings.
âThey begin to realize the importance of the physical workouts when we explain there will be people depending on them to provide help. Or that they may be on their own, with no help except their own ability to handle the problem.
âWe teach punctuality because if theyâre assigned to a traffic block on patrol and they donât show up on time, thereâll be a major problem.
âBut the main thing we stress is self-discipline. Once a trooperâs training is complete, thereâs no supervisor with him on the road, so he must be self-motivated enough to do the job alone.â
Initiative and âpluckââelusive qualities that are more inbred than learnedâare what the patrol looks for in a good trooper, says Oliver.
âWhen youâre tired and disgusted and have no more breath in you, are you the type that will get back up?â said a former instructor at the school. âThose are the kind of people we want. Because if I call you to the scene of an accident to assist me, Iâve got to know I can count on you to back me up.â
The hours from eight to five each day at school are filled with classes, introducing students to patrol history (the organization was established in 1929 with ten members), structure (the patrol falls under the stateâs Crime Control and Public Safety Department), and geographic makeup (there are eight troops statewide, divided into forty-two districts throughout one hundred counties). Other courses include law enforcement philosophy, English, the â10â-signal numeric communication codes used by the patrol, laws of arrest, search and seizure, and constitutional basics.
Juvenile laws, drug enforcement, crisis management, techniques of traffic enforcement, transportation of hazardous materials, criminal investigations, use and care of firearms, pursuit driving, accident investigations, motor vehicle laws, civil disorders, self-defense techniques, courtroom practice, and a tour of the highway patrol headquarters comprise the last half of the course.
Physical training continues daily, along with periodic white-glove inspections.
About halfway through the twenty-week course, says Sergeant Oliver, group psychology takes over and the individual cadets begin to think, feel, and act as a single unit.
âWhen it happens, you can see it. On the morning runs, theyâll all end up together, patting each other on the back, proud of what theyâve accomplished. They are working together as a team, so that when someone slips up, the others will step in as a group and tell him to shape up. Itâs peer pressure and peer support, and itâs more effective than anything I can do or say.â
W. F. (âButchâ) Whitley, Jr., twenty-eight, has a degree in business administration. He was a purchasing manager for a distribution company when he decided to join the highway patrol.
âMy father was a fire chief, so I was brought up around law enforcement,â he said. âI got tired of being a paper shuffler and wanted to do something where I could help people and be my own boss. I chose the highway patrol because they were considered the âeliteâ in my area and I had a lot of respect for the organization.
âI thought I had a little advantage when I first entered school, because my best friend graduated two years ago and he told me what to expect. But it was nothing like that. You try to prepare yourself, but itâs something you have to experience to understand. The biggest surprise was the environmentâhaving someone standing over youall the time. You knew they wouldnât abuse you physically, but thereâs a mental pressure to âmake it.â At the same time, I looked forward to seeing if I could get through, seeing what I was made of.
âAt
âThey begin to realize the importance of the physical workouts when we explain there will be people depending on them to provide help. Or that they may be on their own, with no help except their own ability to handle the problem.
âWe teach punctuality because if theyâre assigned to a traffic block on patrol and they donât show up on time, thereâll be a major problem.
âBut the main thing we stress is self-discipline. Once a trooperâs training is complete, thereâs no supervisor with him on the road, so he must be self-motivated enough to do the job alone.â
Initiative and âpluckââelusive qualities that are more inbred than learnedâare what the patrol looks for in a good trooper, says Oliver.
âWhen youâre tired and disgusted and have no more breath in you, are you the type that will get back up?â said a former instructor at the school. âThose are the kind of people we want. Because if I call you to the scene of an accident to assist me, Iâve got to know I can count on you to back me up.â
The hours from eight to five each day at school are filled with classes, introducing students to patrol history (the organization was established in 1929 with ten members), structure (the patrol falls under the stateâs Crime Control and Public Safety Department), and geographic makeup (there are eight troops statewide, divided into forty-two districts throughout one hundred counties). Other courses include law enforcement philosophy, English, the â10â-signal numeric communication codes used by the patrol, laws of arrest, search and seizure, and constitutional basics.
Juvenile laws, drug enforcement, crisis management, techniques of traffic enforcement, transportation of hazardous materials, criminal investigations, use and care of firearms, pursuit driving, accident investigations, motor vehicle laws, civil disorders, self-defense techniques, courtroom practice, and a tour of the highway patrol headquarters comprise the last half of the course.
Physical training continues daily, along with periodic white-glove inspections.
About halfway through the twenty-week course, says Sergeant Oliver, group psychology takes over and the individual cadets begin to think, feel, and act as a single unit.
âWhen it happens, you can see it. On the morning runs, theyâll all end up together, patting each other on the back, proud of what theyâve accomplished. They are working together as a team, so that when someone slips up, the others will step in as a group and tell him to shape up. Itâs peer pressure and peer support, and itâs more effective than anything I can do or say.â
W. F. (âButchâ) Whitley, Jr., twenty-eight, has a degree in business administration. He was a purchasing manager for a distribution company when he decided to join the highway patrol.
âMy father was a fire chief, so I was brought up around law enforcement,â he said. âI got tired of being a paper shuffler and wanted to do something where I could help people and be my own boss. I chose the highway patrol because they were considered the âeliteâ in my area and I had a lot of respect for the organization.
âI thought I had a little advantage when I first entered school, because my best friend graduated two years ago and he told me what to expect. But it was nothing like that. You try to prepare yourself, but itâs something you have to experience to understand. The biggest surprise was the environmentâhaving someone standing over youall the time. You knew they wouldnât abuse you physically, but thereâs a mental pressure to âmake it.â At the same time, I looked forward to seeing if I could get through, seeing what I was made of.
âAt
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