https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021...officials-say/
Bexar County Sheriff’s cadet who died during first day of training identified as 59-year-old
Kevin Reaux, 59, died after a medical episode during physical exercise training, officials say
https://www.officer.com/training-car...der-applicantsEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A 59-year-old Bexar County sheriff’s detention cadet died Monday after he suffered a medical episode during physical exercise training on his first day.
Authorities say Cadet Kevin Reaux died at the beginning of a BCSO training academy for 13 cadets. As they began their physical exercise training, Reaux began to experience shortness of breath and was allowed to rest.
Authorities said as the cadet was resting, he began to feel worse and eventually lost consciousness. Academy instructors performed life-saving measures and called for medical help.
Reaux was taken to Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:39, officials said. The Medical Examiner has determined Reaux’s cause of death is cardiovascular disease.
Texas Sheriff's Office Aims to Hire Older Applicants
Oct. 11, 2021
With its Boomer Campaign, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office is reaching out to an “older generation” in an effort to fill the department's ranks.
SAN ANTONIO—The Bexar County Sheriff's Office wants to draw in baby boomers with a new hiring campaign geared toward older applicants.
The office said in a news release that Urban Dictionary defines "boomer" as "grumpy old people born from 1946-1964." It's something the office said it wants to redefine.
"With the 'Boomer Campaign,' we are specifically targeting an older generation who may have been turned away from other professions due to their age or who may simply want to come out of retirement and begin their second or possibly third career," the release reads.
Unlike other law enforcement agencies, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office does not have a maximum age limit on those they hire and they hire people as young as 18. By comparison, the San Antonio Police Department hires people between the ages of 20 years, 6 months and 45 years old.
Deputy Mark Rodrigue, 63, said in a promotional sheriff's office video that he always had an interest in law enforcement but thought the window of opportunity had closed before he learned that there was no age limit at BCSO. Rodrigue started at the office when he was 59; KSAT News at the time reported that he was the oldest BCSO cadet.
"But at my age, again, it was a concern," Rodrigue said in the BCSO video. "And also, I had just come off of having stage 4 cancer in my neck. So I kind of looked at it as a challenge. It made me more determined to accept this challenge because I wanted to prove to myself that I could get back from that."
Rodrigue worked at a local YMCA when he met Sheriff Javier Salazar and decided to apply for a job. But before that, BCSO said on Facebook, Rodrigue was a training instructor in the Air Force. When he graduated from the detention academy, Rodrigue worked in the detention center then transferred to the law enforcement division before settling into his current position as an academy instructor.
It would surprise me if they had any type of exercise assessment prior to beginning physical training.
Don't know if Cooper any longer has any sway over LE fitness protocols, we used BP, RHR, 3-minute step test as our cardiovascular screens prior to any PT. Over the years we had several recruits, who by administrative regulation had to have had physicals before attending the academy, bolo our screening and get sent back to get a doctor's release for exercise. The one I remember best was a newly retired LTC CH-47 pilot, who protested that he had a flight physical just before he retired, plus the agency physical. We sent him to get the release and he returned a couple classes later, after bypass surgery.
I always felt that one of the biggest responsibilities we had was ensuring student safety during training. LE is potentially dangerous enough without the added hazard of training which unnecessarily risks serious injury or death.
Adding nothing to the conversation since 2015....
In my state, with some exceptions for things like town marshals, if you are going to be state certified you have to pass entry standards prior to beginning training. Everyone is doing exercise assessments, and while I don't know about the smallest departments pretty much everyone of any size is doing full health screenings.
Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.
You are correct about the morale, safety, and employee retention part. Twelve-hour shifts, alone, would be terrible to endure, even without the other troubles, as I am thinking that many of those officers probably have long commutes, and, upon arrival at home, it takes some time to decompress and recharge one’s mental batteries. Plus, I am reckoning that the twelve-hour shift is the amount of time spent on patrol, and there may be paperwork/reports to finish, at the station, on an OT basis.
Moreover, chronically-fatigued folks do not always make best decisions.
I had typed much more, but decided to prune it down to just this.
Edited to add: I worked for Houston PD, in Texas; sworn in 1984, and retired in 2018.
Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.
Don’t tread on volcanos!
Results: After adjusting for those factors, working in jobs with overtime schedules was associated with a 61% higher injury hazard rate compared to jobs without overtime. Working at least 12 hours per day was associated with a 37% increased hazard rate and working at least 60 hours per week was associated with a 23% increased hazard rate. A strong dose-response effect was observed, with the injury rate (per 100 accumulated worker-years in a particular schedule) increasing in correspondence to the number of hours per day (or per week) in the workers' customary schedulE.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1741083/
A small agency near me just went or is going to 16-hour shifts due to manpower (is that phrase still OK?) issues. I am not affiliated with that agency in any way and don't know whether it is really something they intend to follow through with or just a gambit to get more money allocated. Also not sure if they are talking about 4-16s, or something else. No matter what, it is a bad idea, in my opinion. On a routine basis, it is a very unsafe practice. I have issues with 12-hour shifts as well, but 16? Someone will get hurt.