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Recruits of Conservation Officer Training Academy No. 13, or TA13, stood outside on a cold, winter evening, waiting to be let in to the Michigan State Police Training Academy. For the next 26 weeks, recruits will report to their training location Sunday evenings and spend the week training to become the next generation of Michigan DNR conservation officers.
Photo caption: Sgt. Kyle Bucholtz, training academy commander, checks in recruits on their first night of the academy. Recruits will follow this same process each week when they arrive back at the academy.
During their time at the academy, recruits surrender their cellphones and any personal electronic devices to staff.
It’s a long and rigorous process to reach the front steps of the CO training academy for the first check-in night. Recruits who made it to this point applied for the job almost 10 months ago and have since passed intense background checks that included their families, friends and communities.
Photo caption: Recruits stay in dorm-style rooms while they are at the training academy. They are provided with basic needs and essentials for their rooms and are expected to maintain clean, uniform rooms that pass inspection every day.
In Michigan, COs (commonly referred to as game wardens) are responsible for protecting natural resources, the environment and the health and safety of the public through effective law enforcement and education. It’s a big responsibility with even bigger risks that officers and their families commit to.
COs often work alone in remote areas – including in the woods or on the water – and need to know how to handle situations on their own. Effective communication and knowing how to comfortably talk to a variety of hunters, anglers and others enjoying the great outdoors are essential. These officers must always demonstrate the highest level of professionalism and maintain many hours of training to ensure they are ready to make the best decisions possible to keep themselves and others safe.
When TA13 recruits graduate in July, they will become probationary COs and advance to the next step in their training, called field training. During field training, recruits will spend time in different regions of the state and be assigned to work with a field training officer. An FTO is a conservation officer with years of experience who is responsible for on-the-job training during regular daily patrols.
Everything recruits experience in the academy is for a reason. The most important advice recruits are given is to never give up.
Photo caption: Each time recruits pass the Michigan State Police Fallen Trooper Memorial, they must turn their heads out of respect for and to acknowledge fallen Troopers.
The first week of the training academy was all about routine, discipline and learning how to respond under pressure – a skill set COs will use during their entire career.
“When you turn on a TV, it turns on,” said Sgt. Kyle Bucholtz, training academy commander. “The same with you when you’re asked to do something. Don’t sit there and think about it, because that’s when your mind is going to play tricks on you.”
Photo caption: On the first night of the academy, recruits receive a tour of the Michigan State Police Training Academy and are shown how to go through the food line at the cafeteria. Recruits are allowed to consume only water, milk and (in the mornings) juice.
Recruits learn how to dress in their provided uniforms and march in unison in a single-file line. They are trained to use their peripheral vision when they are being spoken to, and to always address people with respect: “sir” or “ma’am.” They are taught how to make their beds and how to maintain their dorm-style bedroom, how to behave in the classroom, how to go through the food (chow) line in the cafeteria and where to sit. Recruits have an assigned table, are not allowed to speak with one another during meals unless necessary to complete a task, and to prevent waste, may only take the food they know they will eat.
Photo caption: Conservation officer recruits eat all meals at reserved tables in the cafeteria. They are allowed to take only the food they will consume and may not leave leftovers.
Most of all, they learn the importance of and how to act as a team.
“If you feel like you’re slipping, rely on those around you,” recruits were told on their first night, by command officers, Capt. Jen Wolf and Lt. Jeff Rabbers. “In this academy, there is no jealousy or ego. We’re not looking for a standout, we’re looking for a strong team.”
Photo caption: Recruits conduct physical training and learn the expectations for performing each exercise.
Each week, one recruit is selected to be the class commander. The class commander is responsible for the overall leadership of the other recruits for that week, including communicating important schedule details and updates and ensuring that the everyone is prepared for the next task. It’s a lot of pressure, especially the first several weeks when everyone is still learning routine and protocols.
Men and women lodge on different floors. Recruits are allowed to take only the stairwell. To make it fair to the entire class, all recruits must go up to the highest floor before they may go to their assigned floor. Again, operating as a team is key.
Photo caption: Recruits swim laps, alternating strokes in the pool at the Michigan State Police Training Academy.
Every day begins with physical training, or PT. Part of the application process to make it to the academy includes a physical fitness test, including sprint runs, pushups, situps and a jump test. It can’t be reiterated enough how important it is for applicants to arrive at the academy ready for PT, including swimming. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a strong swimmer, recruits will be evaluated and taught the skills they need to be successful. Everyone participates in the same PT and has the same standards to meet.
Photo caption: A survival tactics instructor supervises two recruits while they practice handcuffing techniques.
Much of the day during the first few weeks is spent in the classroom or in the gym for lessons. Topics the first few weeks included human resources, policies and procedures, ethics and policing, interpersonal skills, preparing for patrol, radio communication, subject control tactics, health and wellness, environmental crimes, responding to crimes in progress, emergency preparedness, report writing, public speaking, dealing with juveniles and witness interviewing – to name just a few!
Each week is consistently busy, with no down time.
Photo caption: Conservation Officer Tim Rosochacki teaches recruits a radio communication lesson. Recruits learned how to use the radios to request basic information from emergency dispatchers who work for the DNR’s Report All Poaching hotline.
