Surprise, another rookie

On my way to the extra job yesterday morning, my supervisor sent me a text message letting me know that I would be starting evaluation with a new rookie tonight. Ladybug and I finished last week, so I figured that another one would be coming soon. Her name is Adrian. She is 29, but looks 20. She has a college degree and prior military experience. She is as quiet as a mouse. This is quite a change from Ladybug who talked non-stop. She has had three good trainers who all have said that she did well.

After roll call, she walked up to me and you would have thought she was about to be fed to the lions by the look on her face. To say she was nervous would be an understatement. I can understand being a little anxious before evaluation. It is a nerve racking experience. But she looked like she was about to experience vapor lock. In order to get her to relax, I knew that all of my personal and psychological skills were about to be tested.

Some of the other evaluators, especially on evening shift, seem to take pride in stressing out the rookies. The evaluators will not talk to them during the shift. The rookie does not get any feedback on how they are doing until they get their grades the following day. The evaluator will sit or stand behind or beside them the entire shift with their arms crossed. I look at evaluation a little differently. I try to get the rookie to relax. I want them calm and breathing normally, especially when driving me around.

So we got into the patrol vehicle. Then I began "the talk". With each new probationary I have a short talk that I will share with them. It is a different talk depending upon if we are training or evaluating. The evaluation talk has the word "relax" in it about 10 times. One of the things that I stress, is that I am a bad passenger. I hate not being in control of the vehicle. Drives me crazy. I tell the rookie that I get motion sick and that they need to drive like I am their 90 year old grandmother. This usually gets the point across and they drive nice and smooth and slow. Not Adrian. So far she drives like her hair is on fire. The tires do not spin at every red light, but they have spun a few times. She slams on the gas and then slams on the brakes. Not exactly smooth. I am trying to give her the benefit of the doubt that this is because she is still not really breathing. She still looks at me like I am a hungry lion and she is a baby gazelle. Hopefully, after tonight this will change at least a little bit. As far as the evaluating is going, she is doing fine. Just still a little nervous.

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