I began my journey in the carrier of law enforcement at the young age of fourteen years old. At this age I was not a sworn law enforcement officer, but I was a police explorer with the Winston-Salem Police Department. This program is associated with the Boy Scout program and I remained in this program until the age of eighteen years old. During the police explorer program, I was able to perform ride-a-longs with law enforcement officers and work closely with the Winston-Salem Police Department during different events. This confirmed for me that I truly wish to become a law enforcement officer.
After completing high school at North Forsyth High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I applied with the Winston-Salem Police Department to be
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This was a great feeling and I felt accomplished. Once I entered the patrol car with my first field training officer, it was as if I knew nothing about law enforcement and I was starting from scratch. A short time into my field training phase I was comfortable again and felt accomplished once again. I had approximately eight different training coaches while in training phase. I learned a wealth of knowledge from each one of them, some good things and other not so good things. I remember each training coach for different reasons and they will forever be remembered by me for their own reason. Without them I would not be where I am today as a law enforcement officer.
After the field training phase of my law enforcement training was completed, I was placed in a patrol car by myself. This was a shock mainly because I didn’t have my field training officer to lean on if needed. I now learned to complete tasks totally on my own without assistance from a field training officer. As I learned the career of a law enforcement officer more and more I found myself wanting more responsibility. I also found myself wishing to help rookie or young officers as they needed or requested