Academy in your mid/late 30s

[westside popo]

I've been through four. In each academy, the biggest problem was people wanting to talk when it was prohibited.


So if you can follow instructions you should be fine.

[orangebottle]

I went through my academy in my mid-30s as night school while working a full-time job (business field). It was community-college-style, with little to no physical standards. My class met twice weekly for 4 hours per night, with a sprinkling of Sat/Sun full days. Took a year. The normal academy standard at that time was about 10 weeks.

The hardest part was working my schedule around attending class.

[WindyCityCold]

In my academy class (1998) before age restrictions were established our candidate age range was 23 to 55. I was 28 and the person who sat behind me was 40 (prior LE) and I affectionally called him Pa. The 55 year old was living his life long dream and was physically better prepared than me but I was a slacker then. Ashamed that I was in the best shape of my life for the academy a few years later I worked to better my fitness level as a personal benchmark. So I guess I can say if I went through my academy in my 30's as I was prepared then I would have been fine. The only things that got people out were injuries and not passing state test and a domestic. I agree with others as do not try to over do things which is what happened in most injury cases.

[WindyCityCold]

I went through two academies- the first one was in my 20s, and was cake. The second one was at 43 and 44, and was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Every academy is different.

My first academy was probably an "easy" academy.

The second one was absolutely a difficult one, as judged by the injuries and attrition. Our PT was run by the SWAT team commander, who was a spectacular athlete, and he treated us like he thought he was training Navy SEALs. We ran up to 10 miles a day, 5 days a week, in tropical mid-day summer sun. Almost every day, at least one person would drop and get transported by ambulance to the ER for IV fluids. Most (maybe all) of them never came back. We had numerous broken bones during ground fighting- I finished with a cracked rib that I refused to acknowledge. Out of about 1,000 applicants, our academy started with 22, and graduated 6. I benched 285, did 100 push-ups, about 100 sit-ups, ran the 1.5 mile run in 9:28 (a 6:18 mile pace), did 18 dead-hang overhand pull-ups, and that level of performance put me in the middle of my class.

I second everything that tanksoldier said, plus DON'T drink. Even though I had been a distance athlete when I was younger (200 mile bicycle races) and did triathlons into my late 40s, hydration was a struggle, and any use of alcohol during those 9 months would have made it worse.

Learn hydration. Learn sports diet. Learn sports medicine.

You might get lucky and have an easy academy...or you might not.

What was the commander training for war???
That is a grueling academy routine I can only imagine designed to weed out most. I believe fitness is important for the job but that is on a WHOLE different level. Well I hope the tactics, laws and procedures training wasn't cut to accommodate all the fitness conditioning lol.

[NolaT]

I’d have to believe / hope that most current Academy are going easier on unnecessarily hard PT, so as not to disqualify their current, hard to recruit, recruits.

[GoldBadge]

Our fed motto: “71 gets you a badge and a gun.”

[kflo01]

As long as you come in in pretty good shape. Not talking pro athlete, professional fighter, etc shape but if you at least made working out a semi-lifestyle then you should be fine.

[NolaT]

As with the Academy as a whole,…..how bad do you want it?!

[ls357]

If you want to do it, you’ll be fine. I went thru when I was 30, after being a Marine. Besides the typical silly stuff that comes with any academy or military boot camp, it’s really just the drastic difference in maturity and life experience you will have compared to someone fresh out of college or just turned 21 with no real job experience or previous responsibility.

[mcdb84]

I've been through a Fed Academy during my mid 20s and am currently finishing my second local academy at the ripe age of 38. The second time wasn't that bad and I actually felt more physically prepared. The difference in maturity levels is huge and could tell the difference when I started back in Feb. The oldest at my first academy was 37 since there was an age max for Fed LEO and for the current academy, our oldest was 44.

[jfortman]

I did an easy academy (4 nights a week so i could work) , and i wasn't in my 30s just yet. I did have probably 8 or so years on 90% of the class though. The hardest thing was not the physical aspect but the time, coming straight from work and heading to school with no break. On top of that, doing my normal workout because that academy did not focus on the physical part much during class due to the time issue.

When it came time to test i was in the top 10% though in the run, and probably 3rd or 4th in the other areas. I think it's all about what shape you have kept yourself in over time. If the physical aspect is in check over the previous few years it puts you far far ahead of most.

[Prime619]

4th Academy, now in my 30's. It's fine if you prepare for it. That seems obvious, but with the exception of one academy, there were a lot of people who did not train up for the academies. You can be in the top or bottom of any academy depending on how you prepare.

[orangebottle]

Since I attended the academy eons ago, they added physical standards. One set to test in, another (more challenging set) to test out. These standards are published and readily avaialble to anyone. During the academy, they do multiple pre-tests so attendees can gauge where they're at. Yet, every class, a good 10-20% fail the test-out and don't graduate.

[Lawdog138]

There is a new police academy facilility so things may be different.But this is how it worked when I went through.

The recruit class is broken down ito companies of about 20-25 recruits. Each company does its acedemic work on its own. The gym block consisted of about 6 companies at a time. The outdoor range can handle hundreds of recruits and requalifing officers at any given time. on 2 shifts.
My class was considered small so we had the luxury of steady days and weekends off. Larger classes are split between days and nights and also rotate through the weekends

Each company had a company Sgt and asistant company sgt. These were recruits selected because they had military experience(there were exceptions) and their job was to make sure the company as a whole was where they were supposed to be with the proper gear and act as a liasion between the staff and recruits. They got nothing for this added work from the PD. but the custom at the time was each company took a collection that was equal to the amount of an off duty revolver and give it to the company Sgt upon graduation.

That’s exactly how I remembered the 20th street police academy. That place sucked!!!!

[Lawdog138]

What was the commander training for war???
That is a grueling academy routine I can only imagine designed to weed out most. I believe fitness is important for the job but that is on a WHOLE different level. Well I hope the tactics, laws and procedures training wasn't cut to accommodate all the fitness conditioning lol.

There is no academy on the planet like that. Every day hospitalized recruits and broken bones and ribs on the daily? 10 mile runs? Every day a recruit would drop out? Started with 22 and ended with 6? Do the math!!!