Armed And Ready: My Training Day With The Colonie Police(Video)

What's it like being a police officer? It's exciting, stressful, dangerous, rewarding, and tricky all at once.  While I'll never know what it's like to really be out there protecting the streets, I was fortunate enough to spend a few hours in police training with some great men from the Colonie Police Department. While the scenarios were fictitious in nature, I was still nervous as hell.  Armed with pellet guns and headgear, it played out like an adult version of 'cops and robbers'.  How did I do?  I'll let you be the judge of that, but let's just say if it was real, I more than likely wouldn't be alive to tell you about it.

The respect and admiration I've always had for cops has only grown in recent years. I live in an area known as Center Square in Albany, and since it's heavy on foot-traffic, it takes a lot to keep it safe at all hours of the day.  The Albany Police do an amazing job and I always appreciate seeing them out and about on their bikes, walking the beat, and in their patrol cars keeping an eye on the area that I live in and love, making it safe for everyone to enjoy. The same can be said for men and women wearing blue from the Colonie Police Department who protect and serve the 44 square miles that make up north and south Colonie.  Over the years, I've gotten to know a few of these men and one officer in particular -Javy Martinez -has been a friend of mine for 10 years.  He agreed to be my partner as I 'trained' recently with the Colonie PD.  Joined by Training Officers Matt Garrigan and Anthony Riccitelli, I was put in a few different high-stress scenarios.  The first was a traffic stop with an armed robbery suspect and the second scenario had me responding to a home robbery with potential armed robbers still inside.

If you would like to meet and hang out with some of the awesome men and women who comprise the Colonie Police force, come hang out at their next Community Night on Friday from 6-8pm at Latham Kiwanis Park for demonstrations, free food, games, prizes and a good time!  Show your appreciation for the team of brave men and women who keep our streets safe.  I'll see you there!