Cadets learn core values in Hartsville police program

HARTSVILLE — Slick spots on the floor of the Hartsville Fire Department garage Wednesday morning could have been condensation from the cool morning or sweat from the cadets in the Hartsville Police Youth Academy.

By 10 a.m. the cadets had already finished their first physical training (PT) session and a meeting with police chaplain, Tim McKnight.

By the time the cool air was replaced by July heat, the two squads’ fire hoses moved down the driveway on the shoulders of the cadets like a burlap push puppet with two 100-foot legs flailing and kicking the air.

“Done, sir!” a cadet yelled, holding one of the puppet legs taut by one hand and one knee while his teammates turned the hose end over end back up to the fire engines.

Under instruction of Hartsville firefighters, the cadets were learning how to deploy and recover fire hoses as part of their firefighting series portion of the program.

The blue squad struggled to get their hose back to the truck. They couldn’t decide who got to carry the head of the hose.

“You’re going to have to work together to get this done,” Wesley “Bobo” Young, a Hartsville firefighter, said. “Everyone get hands on the hose.”

The academy — part boot camp, part summer camp and part finishing school — is a four-week program held annually by the Hartsville Police Department. The camp is supported by a Byerly Foundation grant and Lake View Baptist Church which donated a van for transportation — when the cadets aren’t marching.

A door opened and a 6-foot tall figure filled the frame.

“You cadets better put that fire out now!” It’s Al Rose of the Hartsville Police Department. In boot camp speak, Rose would be the “heavy.”

His large hands gestured toward a fire that didn’t exist, but the cadets scrambled faster than before. A minute later, the thick fabric was folded neatly into its storage space and the cadets were in a single-file line, one arm outstretched touching the shoulder in front of them.

“Where’s your feet?”

“Forty-five degrees apart, Sir!”

“Where’s your heels?”

“Together, Sir!”

“Where’s your hands?”

“Along the seam of my shorts, Sir!”

“Where’s your head?”

“Straight ahead, Sir!”

The cadets can hardly stand still in a formation. They’re still full of energy after a morning full of physical activity, which is good because the day is only half over.

“I see you moving, Cadet Castro. The green squad must not want condiments today,” Rose said.

Cadets can earn additions to their lunch like condiments and sweet tea for successful execution of commands.

One of the hardest tests of teamwork is staying silent while in the van traveling from the fire station to a barber shop for military-style haircuts.

“We attempt to teach these young adults responsibility, pride, respect, integrity, discipline, education and how to be good productive members of their community now and in the future,” Hartsville Police Department Cpl. Kelley Woodham said.

Woodham is the strong silent type, in contrast to Rose, the instructor who wears his hair in a high and tight style who you hear coming before you see him. It’s their contrasting styles that make them effective.

Rose has his eye on the group. When the cadets fail, they fail as a group. They are punished as a group and they learn as a group. They learn teamwork within their separate squads with exercises like the hose drill while competing against the opposing squad to earn condiments at lunch time.

The training aides of choice: running the almost vertical steps of Kalmia Gardens or “going roach.”

Every now and then, Woodham will have an aside with one of the cadets. The cadet will look sheepish for a moment, nod and run back to formation with some new tidbit of wisdom.

And studies on police-led programs have shown that youth who participate are less likely to use drugs and skip school and are more likely to respect laws and police presence.

It’s only days into the program, but the already the impact is obvious. The lessons are sticking with them. And at least for now, they’re holding doors and addressing adults as sir or ma’am even after Rose’s drill instructor hat comes off.

The cadets will graduate from the program at 10 a.m. Aug. 6 at Lake View Baptist Church.