I have noticed a huge difference in the Cadets for the State Police of today compared to when I started. Today's cadets are not as committed as we were back in the 70's. They get a cold, they call off work for a few days. They get a sore finger, they want to be excused from participating in the physical training class. We had a young cadet in this last batch that came through that wanted to take three days off to go be with his sister in Iowa while she was having her baby. He told us that they are a very close family and that the whole family was going to be with her. We told him that if he took the three days off that he would be suspended from the program and may not be allowed back in with the next hiring group. He went and when he came back, he called us and asked if he could come back to school. Simple answer; "No, but thanks for asking."
The average cadet class is usually about 25-35 cadets. The average graduation is somewhere around 60-70% that actually make it through the course and graduate. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff these young people come up with as to why they can't do this or that. We have a class in driving pursuit. Normally, we will take about 10 at a time to go through the class. To pass the course, the cadet must be able to follow a robotic car through a course without hitting certain obstacles, including pedestrians. This class is always a treat to watch. They all think that they are Mario Andretti. Most can't drive without hitting something or someone. Some take 4 or 5 times to get it right. Why? Because they don't concentrate on what they are doing. They truly believe that it's all about speed.
