Salutations to everyone, I am a current LAPD Cadet, in West Bureau. I am writing to create a change in our program. I am not trying to attack this program in anyway, this is a program that I love and put all my dedication into. But one thing that I learned from this program is that if you want change you need to start change. I know that there has been a major change in the program in the past two years since the incident. The incident I am talking about is the 77th Street Division Police chase. A basic summary of the incident is that three cadets stole a city vehicles and went out into the city going for a joy ride and was involved in a traffic accident. They altered their Identification Cards and issued uniforms, to match those of an officer, and was able to access the kit rooms and the police vehicles. This incident was a shock to us all, and following the incident, there were changes to the program as a whole. The class of 01-17 was the academy currently in section when the incident took place. By the graduation of the said class, there was a city wide inspection of all Cadet personnel by the Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. The inspection was held on Saturday, June 24, 2017 at 8 a.m, it was a mandatory inspection for all divisions apart of the LAPD Cadet program, that is over 21 divisions in the LA area; I myself was apart of the inspection. People of the public wanted to disband the program as a whole, which put me at worry. But it ultimately was looked over, but there has been changes to the program, major changes. 

The program was not what it used to be, I will be frank. The program was filled with dedicated, disciplined, and motivated people who genuinely enjoyed the structure of it. But now that chapter has come to a close. New regulations were put in place, they follow what YPU we must follow are we can no longer make cadets do any physical exercise as a means of discipline, the most we can do is issue a 15.7 and tell the officer of disciplinary issues and they give them a lecture. We cannot have the intensity it used to have. 

1) The intense nature of the program is what drove out the teens who did not want to be there, aka the weaklings. It may be harsh but it was to insure that the people who WANT to be there get the attention.

2) There problems with discipline within the police community, we need the discipline for when those who want to go into law enforcement have that discipline and can prevent future misdeeds. 

3) It is called operant conditioning, if the cadets have bad behavior they will make the connection with PT (physical training). And ever bad behavior will result in a consequence. 

The truth, nothing is happening, nobody is discussing this and no one will. They may talk about it in the YPU meetings but it will be the decision of three people at best. And to be honest there is not much to do but draw attention to it. It was the attention of the public that brought the change to the program, so it will be the attention of us that bring the discipline, dedication,and motivation back into this once shining program. What will I do? I will be loud, I will spread the word among the cadets while trying to stay anonymous at the same time. I want to bring attention to this matter and I will probably have complications in the program, but this is what I believe in. If the one police officer screws up, that individual officer will either be suspended to fired, and we know lots of officers have done so. But the one time three cadets screw up the whole program is changed, why are we held to a higher standard while officers still get to run the system the same way?