Hardest part of being a rookie

[TJake1990]

Curious to see what was tough, or wasn't tough for you all. Personally i think remembering all the codes would be hard. I like to watch cops and Alaska State Troopers and hear all the codes being thrown out. Personally i think its so cool how the just click for them. My dad has an old police scanner from his department in his office i listen to periodically and try to put things together, only to still be lost.

[mikeymedic]

Most of us don't use the 10 codes anymore and switched to plain English. The hardest part was the fear of getting it wrong for me. The academy doesn't teach you how to perform the essentials of being an officer. Only the FTO can do that, and "rookies" can have a hard time realizing that.

[TJake1990]

do lots of departments have different 10 codes or do the codes stay the same everywhere?

[chaps0063]

Most of us don't use the 10 codes anymore and switched to plain English. The hardest part was the fear of getting it wrong for me. The academy doesn't teach you how to perform the essentials of being an officer. Only the FTO can do that, and "rookies" can have a hard time realizing that.

I absolutely agree with the part about getting it wrong. I asked a million questions before finally one day my supervisor told me to stop. He said do what you think is right. Make mistakes and fix them after the fact. It was amazing how much more I knew than I thought. Not saying I know it all, but I would ask questions about basic, everyday stuff. It was stuff that I knew how to do but wanted clarification/acknowledgment that what I Was doing was right.

do lots of departments have different 10 codes or do the codes stay the same everywhere?

Here in PA we're dispatched by our county. Each county has different 10 codes. My department doesn't use 10 codes, however, some of our neighboring departments use them frequently. For us, we still have to know them or be lost when others use them.

[1234badman]

Coming from college, it was very hard to absorb all of the information at one time. The radio, watch your car, your gear, the bandit, your partner, and work a tough neighborhood. Very intimidating for a couple months till you get your feet wet. Good experience though.

[Iowa #1603]

The hardest part was the fear of getting it wrong for me. The academy doesn't teach you how to perform the essentials of being an officer. Only the FTO can do that, and "rookies" can have a hard time realizing that.

Nicely said.

The academy teaches you the basics. HOW to do certain things.
That CJ degree teaches the theory of the profession.

FTO teaches you how to do the job correctly.

Been a long time since I was a rookie..............long time.

Started a new job this month. Learning the routine things and the paperwork is the hardest things so far.

[ArkansasFan24]

Street locations.

[Iowa #1603]

Street locations.

I heard a 15 yr veteran ask for a cross street the other day on a hot call.

(It wasn't on a new street either)----------------

[jmw_LS2]

Trying to figure out the co-workers you can trust, and weeding out the ones you can't.

[grumpyirishman]

The hardest part for rookies is to not be a 'know-it-all' a-hole.......

[dontknowwhy]

Streets!!! Esp since I worked in a town I had been to only about 3 times before applying.

[chaps0063]

I heard a 15 yr veteran ask for a cross street the other day on a hot call.

(It wasn't on a new street either)----------------

It happens to the best of them. In their old age they must forget.

Iowa, or anyone for that matter...Did you ever ask for cross streets and get "Dead End and" and right then you're like, oh crap. Then they tell you the an easy street and the relief sets in?

[Yankee_1]

nothing like "whats the cross streets"? and they give you the same street " jones st and jones st". Then you have to ask the closest main street and the block number and it always the opposite direction you are driving. I think getting a good radio ear was the hardest. You have to listen to the radio even when your talking to victims or suspects.

[Zeitgeist]

First assignment out of the Academy was 'morning watch'. The hours were 10:30pm-6:30am. Trying to find my way around very dark streets was tough. On alot of the streets perps had turned the street signs around or stolen them. In the days before GPS this made things very difficult.

[Iowa #1603]

On alot of the streets perps had turned the street signs around or stolen them. In the days before GPS this made things very difficult.

Try working a rural county................gravel roads that were not even named...........................(pre 911 address days) Back when GPS wasn't even a dream.

You just learned. We had a map book with co-ordinate grids in my county..................But we were a large population county. The smaller ones just usually had the dispatcher give directions.

It really wasn't unusual to hear " Go two miles south of Howard's Corner, take a right and go five miles. Turn left and just past the bridge turn on the dirt road................and the house is somewhere down that road."

[Chomp]

Learning to multi-task: driving/MDT/radio/SA/squad status (that dude looks shady and I have PC/are enough guys clear for me to go out on him/yes they are/seatbelt/call it out/go out/etc), and getting my radio ear.

[HotSoup]

As others said....my biggest obstacle was learning the streets...I moved to Phoenix from Jersey so I had to learn the streets and how they were numbered and what side even and odd numbers were on....was taking me forever and I was getting frustrated until my FTO finally told me how everything was layed out...after that I never had a problem with it again...even after moving to a new precinct...I didn't know all the streets but I understood how the hundred blocks worked and was able to find my way to calls pretty easily.

[ArkansasFan24]

I hate streets that dead end and pick back up several blocks away and maybe even a block or two north or south of the original one. You'd think city planners could just think of another name for them. That always hurt me as a rook. I'd go down the road looking for the 1100 block and it would stop at 900 or something. Then I'd have to go back around and find what I was looking for.

[BigWil]

The toughest thing for a rookie is buying all his FTO's meals and coffee on a rookie salary

[Kivuli]

The hardest part was the fear of getting it wrong for me.

This. You screw up flipping a burger and you're out a patty of beef. You screw up on this job and you just violated someone's rights or worse.

As for 10-codes, the first 10 are nearly universal. After that, it's anyone's guess.

[ArkansasFan24]

The toughest thing for a rookie is buying all his FTO's meals and coffee on a rookie salary

Seriously? I never bought coffee, and he'd buy Wendy's one night. I'd buy it the next.

[stormz5192]

To stfu, listen, learn from your mistakes the first time and realize that the FTO and SGT are teaching you things that you might understand and think are trivial, but in the long run will save your 6.

[irish21]

Currently being a rookie....For me it's the "bottom of the totem pole" stuff.
-Been on graveyards the past 5 months.
-Can't use annual leave or sick leave hours.
-Schedule changes wildly. 14 hour shift one day, 8 hour shift next, days off are randomly changed, get called in to fill anyones hours.
-Warrants of any nature are handed off to me to go serve.

[NBW791]

I think for me the job clicked pretty well so I never really struggled with that aspect of it. I guess if I had to pick something, I would say just being young, looking young and trying to pass myself off as knowing what I'm doing to those I came in contact with (citizens, dirtbags, etc.). It usually worked fairly well, but I hated it when people asked me how long I had been doing the job. I always used to include my civilian time from another agency and make it sound like I had been a cop somewhere else before for four years. I didn't lie, I just said, "Well, one year with THIS agency..." Then they would ask, "Oh, so you used to work for another one?" Worked like a charm.

I still don't like people asking how long I've been doing my job. I look forward to breaking the 10 year mark next year - that sounds respectable.

[Iowa #1603]

I still don't like people asking how long I've been doing my job. I look forward to breaking the 10 year mark next year - that sounds respectable.

You know, don't' you, that 5 yrs is the statistically break point. If you make it that long -----stats say you will remain in the profession until retirement. Well over 95% of the officers who leave the profession do so before the 5 yr mark.