Just Say NO!!

Last night at my Academy Class we had the best presenters. We were at the Superstition District which is just over the freeway from my house. After a short introduction from the District Commander, we toured the facility. This time there were actually officers around, and I was looking the that cop that pulled me over for not stopping all the way out on Hawes and Baseline, but he was not there. We then had a presentation by the CIS, Civilian Investigation Specialist. This is my dream job. No guns. You get to go through a modified Police Academy training and then you spend your day investigating property crimes around the city. It sounds so interesting.

After that we had what looked like an average Joe show up. It actually was a Sgt from the Street Crimes division. He was so funny. He taught us about undercover work, Mesa hookers and "massage" parlors. Great stories, PG13. He just went on and on. We had a break after his presentation and he hung around still talking. When the next presenter showed up he finally left but not until someone gave him a really hard time for it.

The next presenter was from the Gang division. Let's just say that he warned us that Gangs are very Adult and his pictures were very Adult. Graffiti, tattoos, hand signs and gang violence were his focus. Very educational.

Lastly we had Narcotics. Drugs! He actually brought little baggies of drugs to pass around the room. Marijuana, crack, cocaine and meth were a few. He showed us pictures of what someone on crack looks like over a 10 year period. He showed us pictures of meth labs, kilos of drugs, PCP, Oxycontin and so on. It was amazing. Seeing what people will do for drugs and what teenagers are messing with. It really opened our eyes. The girl sitting next to me leaned over during the presentation and said, "Wow, I've really led a sheltered life. I've never seen or heard of some of this stuff." I told her sheltered is not a bad thing. Although I've never seen many of those drugs, I have heard things about certain drugs. It was cool.

The next 2 weeks we will be down at the Central Station. I can't wait. It just seems like each week it gets better.