For 10 weeks Los Alamos Police Cmdr. Oliver Morris attended the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., and on Tuesday shared his experiences with the Rotary Club of Los Alamos.

 

To sum it up, Morris, who also is a Rotarian, said, “It was a good experience.”

 

He explained that his participation in the academy resulted from a commission in 1935 that reported a need for a national standard for police officers.

 

“We just saw a need to have more of a net of law enforcement,” Morris said.

 

The academy evolved to become a global network. In fact, Morris said he met law enforcement officials from Cambodia, Kenya, Thailand, Denmark, Uganda and other countries.

 

He added that one night those attending the academy cooked meals from their home countries. It was an opportunity, Morris said, to introduce peers to their cultures.

 

During the 10-week program, Morris took several courses, which touched on a variety of topics including body cameras, rapid DNA, emotional intelligence, wellness and vitality and communication and media relations.

 

He also completed the “yellow brick road”, a 6.1-mile grueling run through a hilly, wooded trail built by the Marines. Along the way, the participants must climb over walls, run through creeks, jump through simulated windows, scale rock faces with ropes, crawl under barbed wire in muddy water, maneuver across a cargo net and much more.

 

During the academy, Morris traveled to New York City and visited the New York Police Department (NYPD) Police One Plaza headquarters.

 

His class also raised $21,000 in a single night, which was donated to a cops program and the Special Olympics.

 

To get into the academy, Morris said he applied a few years ago and was nominated to attend the academy by a FBI agent from the Albuquerque office. The application process was lengthy; Morris said his entire background was looked at.

 

The work, it seems, was worth it.

 

“I’m so blessed to have this experience. I couldn’t have done without (my family),” Morris said.

 

A career in law enforcement was always something Morris said he aspired to do. He credited this aspiration to a deputy sheriff from his hometown. He  explained as a young kid growing up in a small farming  community in California his family didn’t have a lot of money but his mother worked to buy him a bike.

 

However, his bike was stolen, which devastated him, Morris said. But, the deputy sheriff was able to track down the bike and drove Morris to the kid’s house to retrieve it.

 

“What was interesting was even though we might not have been well off this particular family was even less well off than us,” Morris said “I think he just had a really big heart for that family and he didn’t charge the kid, he just made it a learning experience. It was a big learning experience for me to ride over there with him and face that head on.”

 

Later, Morris said he was on another ride with the deputy sheriff when a fellow deputy found a truck and a woman on methamphetamines who had abandoned her young children in that truck for more than two days. Morris said the toddlers hadn’t eaten and if it wasn’t for the deputy patrolling the highway they wouldn’t have been found.

 

After finding them, the deputy sheriff took the kids to his own home, his wife fed and bathed them and the two children were given to child protection services the following day.

 

“That really stuck with me on being a police officer … I always like to share the story because it was somebody who impacted my life to want to be a police officer,” Morris said. “I think being a police officer is the best job.”