Nervousness

[Brav989]

Curious of when starting out, if any of you officers did(or even still) get nervous when making first contact with somebody while on duty?

[AtlCop]

Absolutely. I would also venture to say that if anyone says no, they are probably lying. Certain people still make me nervous or perhaps a better word might be apprehensive. After seven years now in this line of work, 99.9% of the time, those are the ones that go to jail for something.

[Bodie]

It's not nervouness. The academy gets you past that for the most part. It's more FEAR and Anxiety and if you ever loose that feeling you'll make bad decisions and maybe get hurt. You just get more "comfortable" in that mode of feelings and can function better after some experience.

[Mid_Ohio_Po]

Absolutely...I'm in no way a veteran (only 5 years on) but I still get that little jittery leg bounce when I'm a lil keyed up from a gut feeling or situation. I'll stand there and my leg will twitch like I'm shivering....weird

[PhilipCal]

Nervousness.

It will always be there, and can be a good thing. Academy, and continued in-service training, will help you gain confidence in a wide variety of tactical situations, but that element of nervousness will always be there.

[Tim Dees]

I like the saying "Those that have no fear simply do not fullly understand the situation."

I used to be so tense that I would have to run for the station at least once a shift to take care of a really urgent bathroom-related emergency. I don't know of anyone that didn't have that kind of anxiety to some degree, although some got over it quicker than others.

[TPD Cadet]

I'll stand there and my leg will twitch like I'm shivering....weird

--Not the Police--

I know what you mean, its an adrenaline dump. Once on a ride-along we were responding to a riot downtown. We flipped on lights and sirens and my legs started freaking out! I was sitting in the car and my legs were shivering, I had no idea what it was till we got to the CP and my neighbor (a sgt) noticed my legs. He told me to sit on a squad car and it helped. Its wierd though, I wasn't nervous, just excited.