Dozens of recruits begin six-month class at Sacramento County Sheriff's Academy
SACRAMENTO – One of two classes this year began Monday for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Academy as they are looking to fill 100 positions.
From the moment they file in, these recruits are put through their paces.
It looks chaotic because it is. Recruits undergo stress inoculation in something called the grinder.
"We want them to experience a level of stress that they are never going to be accustomed to," said Stg. Amar Ghandi with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office. "So when they do hit the streets and experience a real emergency-that they know what to expect. They know how their body is going to react and they know how to adapt."
Sixty-one recruits will start the six-month process in this class, which includes training in the field and the classroom.
Not all the recruits are headed to the Sacramento Sheriff's Department. Half are going to outside agencies.
Thirteen of this class are women.
"There are some victims for calls for service they just respond better to have a female officer there," said Sacramento deputy Kera Collins.
Collins remembers that first hour all too well.
"Why did you allow her to come out of that locker room looking like this," Collins said.
Recruits get a month to prepare.
"I felt like I was prepared. It does take a lot of time and commitment to get to that point and as you can see there are some that still show up not realizing the time and commitment it did take," Collins said.
She went through the academy in 2015 as a sponsored recruit from the Roseville Police Department. She is now an instructor.
"One of the things that really drew me to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office is the fact they have a training facility. There's not a whole lot of other agencies that offer something like that," Collins said.