Ontariohighwaytrafficact.com

Are there any volunteer positions that exist within an OPP detachment? I've been trying to get a job as an auto shop tech for the last few months, but with that industry in the pits, I'm not having any luck. I've been thinking of volunteering for something with the downtown Orillia detachment or at General Headquarters - are there any positions that exist? Maybe typing notes or taking calls...I'd like to get to know the atmosphere and maybe make a few contacts that I can use as references.

I'd go down there and ask, but I figure going in with "I want to volunteer" is stronger than "Do you guys have volunteer positions?"

I have never heard of any volunteer type of positions you mention.

You might want to consider calling your local "crime stoppers" as they often look for volunteers.

You can also apply to your local "Victim Services" and help people through various traumatic times.

Another avenue is applying to the OPP Auxiliary program. Once an auxiliary you ride with regular members doing full duties. This will give you volunteer experience, plus let you see the day to day functions of a police officer. You might find it very interesting, but on the other hand mind think what the hell have I got into and know right then that you no longer want to be an officer. It can also help with an application later IF you have been a strong auxiliary (reliable, good with people) as members will probably want to be a reference for you.

I was with the Auxiliary program for 2 years prior to applying, a volunteer with the local snowmobile club and worked with minor hockey.

Good Luck!

HB

I thought the auxiliary applications took just as long as a regular constable application (i.e., a year or more) except you weren't required to go to OPC and didn't get a firearm. Am I mixing that up with the Cadet program?

Auxiliary applicants get almost the whole complete testing as regular during the "hiring phase". The interview is done locallly and not by a "recruiter". There also has to be a "local" auxiliary position open to apply. It is well worth the investment/time if you are successful. Auxiliaries then go for one week training in Orillia prior to being able to go on the road, this is very quick compared to way back when, we would do one day here, one day there of training, seemed like months that way, where the one week and that's it, aside from the yearly requals.

So I would need to get PREP and first aid, but once past the initial interview, the background checks and psych evals would go a lot quicker than a regular application? The training in Orillia is no problem for me, as those buildings are just across the street from General Headquarters - a 15 minute walk from where I live.

Thanks Bear. I'll have to fast-track my cardio training, as I don't think I can pass PREP just yet. I haven't done much running at all since the beginning of high school.

If you happen to go to GoodLife Fitness...start taking thte Group Exercise Classes. It may seem not so male to go...but I have now completed 3 years of Body Attack, Body Step and now RPM came to the club last month. My cardio and strength is second to none.

My resting heart rate has gone from low 80's to low 50's. My high blood pressure is gone and is now a little lower than normal. I lost 15lbs overall weight and gained muscle to boot! Excellent programs and every day off I am there, even before night shifts I get a workout in.

This is great....now I can eat all the donuts I want

Seriously, I watch my diet too. Instead of chips, pop stuff, I go to water, and mixed nuts, dried fruit mixture.

Wow, 50s. My resting heart rate is somewhere in the high 70s, but shoots up to 120 or so after just 500 m. I can just barely get out 1 km before running out of breath - not very good at all. The OPP website has some material that says I should aim for 2.7 km in 11 minutes to pass the PREP shuttle run. I say just hand out those long-range rifle tasers and eliminate running.

I don't belong to a fitness club, but I do have a treadmill and free weights at home. I'm also going to install a pull-up bar in the basement in front of the big screen TV. My physical strength isn't nearly as bad as my cardio - right now I can curl 40 lbs and bench press 200 lbs, and the last time I had access to a Smith machine I managed to squat a monster 680 lbs. Might have to work on grip strength for the PREP test, but I've been crushing tennis balls in my free time.

Diet is going to hold me back. I don't drink a lot of pop, but I'm known for my sandwich creations which always, always include a toxic amount of bacon. My last masterpiece had four eggs, eight strips of bacon, four breakfast sausages, half an onion (caramelised, mmm), sliced ham, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and maple syrup.

Damn Squishy, your diet was worse than mine a couple of years ago!

The "big" small change that I made was adding blueberries to my diet. Seriously. In addition to being loaded with antioxidants, they also change the way your body stores glucose (helps shed fat) and some studies have shown that a diet with a healthy dose of blueberries helps improve memory and cognition by 5%-6%. Also started drinking V8. Body fat and blood pressure dropped with no other changes to my routine.

Instead of bacon, try chicken bacon (or I guess it's "chicken bacon style" or whatever). Much less fat/sodium/etc., tastes almost the same. (My wife got me to switch.) Also try adding in red peppers.

As for running... it's hard to get back into it, but start off by jogging for 5-10 min daily and then every week add 1-2 min to the time. Worked for me a few years ago. I usually only run about 20-30 min every other day, but now my resting heart rate is 60 BPM. Doesn't take much!

Haha, well I only come up with a new sandwich every three months or so. My daily diet is much more regular with occasional spikes of insanity. Once in a while I get the urge to stuff myself with six pounds of honey garlic chicken wings, or try to once again tackle a 3-lb burger. I'm a slow eater, so I've never been able to finish that burger within their two-hour timeframe. I'll get that t-shirt someday.

Nothing else in my diet screams death, but I'll replace my snack strawberries with some blueberries. I do tend to overeat eggs, but they're just so cute and delicious. Oh, there was that four-month period where I ate nothing but McDonald's, but I actually lost weight during my McDiet. I took it much better than that documentary's vegan girlie-man.

I hope getting back to running will be as easy for me. Now that I think about it, the last time I did any real track running was in grade 7. Grade 8 was more about calisthenics, and through high school I took weight training and auto shop instead of gym classes. Who would've thought gym would turn out to be a career requirement?

Radar Identified wrote:

The "big" small change that I made was adding blueberries to my diet. Seriously. In addition to being loaded with antioxidants, they also change the way your body stores glucose (helps shed fat) and some studies have shown that a diet with a healthy dose of blueberries helps improve memory and cognition by 5%-6%. Also started drinking V8. Body fat and blood pressure dropped with no other changes to my routine.

That's great! I read about that before too. Have you ever tried Flax Seeds?

Squishy wrote:

I don't belong to a fitness club, but I do have a treadmill and free weights at home. I'm also going to install a pull-up bar in the basement in front of the big screen TV. My physical strength isn't nearly as bad as my cardio - right now I can curl 40 lbs and bench press 200 lbs, and the last time I had access to a Smith machine I managed to squat a monster 680 lbs. Might have to work on grip strength for the PREP test, but I've been crushing tennis balls in my free time.

:

I see lots of "monsters" at the gym......and super strong, but only 2% only do real cardio. So things would be bad if they got hold of you in the first 30 seconds, but after a minute the cardio would prevail......just have to look at UFC for all that, guys gas out with poor cardio, then get really "rocked".

Could do a mixed run that would get everything going at once.

(IE: Sprint from one hydro pole to another = 100m, drop and 15 pushups, sprint another 100m, 15 situps, run 500m, jumping jacks, 500m, 15 step ups (step up onto park bench) with each leg leading for 15, 100m sprint......end it with...100m of two foot jumps forward, followed by 100m of alternating lunges with a twist (left/right) )

Basically a mixed bag of tricks, no expensive equipment and will fully prepapre you for a PREP with the stopping, starting stuff.

Another good grip strength, is put a weight on a rope attached to a broom handle/baseball bat. Hold broom straight out with both hands and turn it tighten the rope, raise the weight, and once at top, reverse on the way down controlled. Stengthens grip and forearms.

hwybear wrote:

I see lots of "monsters" at the gym......and super strong, but only 2% only do real cardio. So things would be bad if they got hold of you in the first 30 seconds, but after a minute the cardio would prevail......just have to look at UFC for all that, guys gas out with poor cardio, then get really "rocked".

Hahaha, that used to be me. Back in high school I would hog all the heaviest plates in the room, but the most cardio I ever did was the lightest setting on the stationary bikes (good time killer and I could do homework in my head). No way could I ever chase anyone down or last more than ten minutes in a fight. Maybe that's why I never got into a fight during high school and just once in my life (which ended very quickly with the other guy in a headlock). Might have to pay someone to beat me up just to know what it feels like. Volunteers?

Thanks for the broom handle idea...I have to get rid of these girly wrists and forearms. The mixed run might have the neighbours arranging an exorcism for me, but I'll give it a try once I can do a 30-minute run on the treadmill. 15 sit-ups seem kind of low...is that whole routine just one set and I would repeat it several times? I can usually do 50-100 sit-ups depending on how tired I am.

Might have to pay someone to beat me up just to know what it feels like. Volunteers? Laughing

Stop at the OPP headquarters with a dozen fresh donuts........ Hold them behind your back........ Hold back the crowd.... that should do........

hahahahaha

They have tasers, that's not fair.

Squishy wrote:

The mixed run might have the neighbours arranging an exorcism for me, but I'll give it a try once I can do a 30-minute run on the treadmill. 15 sit-ups seem kind of low...is that whole routine just one set and I would repeat it several times? I can usually do 50-100 sit-ups depending on how tired I am.

There is a paved path behind my house, so I use that, every park bench is a different excercise and I make it up as I go. Start wherever you want for # of reps at each "station", just remember next time out to improve on the previous by say 5 reps. Soon you will be up to high numbers and cardio "to boot"

15 reps on week one = 60 reps on week 10. Seems low, but it is a safe progression and give you a "goal" the following week to go for.

Another good one is tricep dips on the bench!

Running 30min on a teadmill can be a waste of time...unless you manipulate the run (which the outdoors will do on variety of terrain) Try 5 min walking, next 5min at 2 incline (3min jog, 2 min run), 5 min at 4 incline (3min jog, 2 min run), 5min at 6 incline (4 min jog, 1 min run).....slow down and walk at 6 incline, and then increase incline 1 for every minute.....your legs be burnin'.......reduce incline and walk for 5min cool down.

I have not touched a tread mill in almost 3yrs, I prefer the bootcamp style instructors yelling at me during my cardio workout

admin wrote:

Have you ever tried Flax Seeds?

Have not... but I will look into them!

Squishy wrote:

No way could I ever chase anyone down or last more than ten minutes in a fight.

Another really good cardio exercise: Run up and down ski hills during the summer. I used to do that. These days if I really want to test my fitness I go running in Caledon at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. Lots of trails, lots of hills, but really nice scenery. Makes you forget you're doing cardio work.

I missed the part about the weekly progressions. That makes more sense and makes it tougher. I do have about 150 m of flat grass-30 degree hill-flat grass if I run parallel to my house, but the ground is too wet right now and I would just tear it up.

I keep the treadmill at full incline, run until I'm too tired to keep it up, then slow down to a jog or a fast walk (the embarrassing turtle symbol) until I catch my breath, then repeat the cycle until I can't even walk straight. Right now I can last about an hour overall, but my goal is to be able to do 30 minutes of running without having to use the turtle. Pointless on a treadmill?

I'm out to buy some blueberries now.

EDIT: Doh! It was 7 am, so did some running instead. To the blueberry store...when it opens!

I am no where a sports trainer, but I don't know if being able to job 30min or 1hr will do anything for you to pass the PREP.

I have never done the PREP as it came in way after I was hired. I have done the shuttle run for my fitness test. I only needed 6.5 to pass....went to 9.5 without a problem.

Think having a training program with quick intervals, rather than a long run would be more efficient for your goals........mind you OPP still makes you do the old testing = 1.5m run, situps, pushups, sit n reach on top of the PREP.

I wasn't training specifically for PREP, it was more like 'how much running do I expect to do to chase someone down?' Running has always been my weakest point and might be the biggest obstacle to me getting hired.

Although I suppose I should train for PREP and worry about chasing people after I get in. Do you remember how many pushups are required for the test? I don't know if it's bad technique or if my training is not targeting one of the required muscles, but right now I can only squeeze in 15 pushups on a good day. Other people who otherwise seem to have the same strength as I do are doing 50 to 100 pushups, the bastards.

By the way, is General Chat sort of an off-topic forum? I took apart one of those energy-efficient 1.25 GPM faucet aerators and figured out how to retrofit normal ones to be low-flow, if anyone is interested in an instructional post.

Radar Identified wrote:

admin wrote:

Have you ever tried Flax Seeds?

Have not... but I will look into them!

They are great! I try to include raw grinded up Flax seeds in my diet daily and I think it does wonders!

Here's a link about the benefits, and you can find tons more in Google!

http://www.healthcastle.com/flax.shtml

Thanks admin. I picked up some flax seeds at No Frills this morning and will be trying them out.

I used to weigh over 225 pounds... Having made no change in diet, I lost 40 pounds just by changing up when I eat - more at breakfast, and tiny supper. Now I can do 15 pull-ups.

racer wrote:

I lost 40 pounds. Now I can do 15 pull-ups.

Is that how many times you "pull-up" the baggy pants per day?

hwybear wrote:

racer wrote:

I lost 40 pounds. Now I can do 15 pull-ups.

Is that how many times you "pull-up" the baggy pants per day?

Or is that how many pull ups hwybear does to the tim hortons drive through in a shift

hwybear wrote:

Is that how many times you "pull-up" the baggy pants per day?

Good grief, bear.

tdrive2 wrote:

Or is that how many pull ups hwybear does to the tim hortons drive through in a shift

Thanks, t, now there's blueberry mush all over my computer screen.

But you know if you're working in the middle of the night, you have to stay awake somehow. It's not like the Crown Vic comes equipped with a coffee brewer or some of those rather weird and dangerous "energy drinks."

hwybear wrote:

racer wrote:

I lost 40 pounds. Now I can do 15 pull-ups.

Is that how many times you "pull-up" the baggy pants per day?

No, I fit well into 6 pairs of pants I couldn't wear while I was in metric triples!

I wonder if you could. Don't most cop cars have an extra battery in the trunk or somewhere on board. They have alot of extra electronic devices they need to use while parked, would be wasteful to run the engine all the time.

I'm not sure the lead-acid batteries could power all of that equipment for too long. So they probably have to leave it running. Imagine if the officer was sitting there on battery power, picks up a car going 180 km/h on the LIDAR, then goes to start the car and chase... DOH!

I did some google search, and google came up with capacity of 60 Amp-Hours at 12 V for a standard battery.

12 V x 60 Ah = 720 Watt-Hours, which could power up my desktop with a monitor for a good 2 hours lol.

Should a spare battery be installed, that would double the capacity of the batteries. I dunno what the equipment draws, but my estimates (with help of google)

LIDAR - 5 Watts

Radar Decatur GVP-D Genesis VersaPak Directional Radar Handheld Cordless Police Radar Gun w/ K-Band Directional Antenna & Faster Mode 8 volts at 370 mA (max) = 3 Watts

Laptop Computer - 120 Watts (maximum, I doubt they use the laptops with crazy hardware to draw more than 90, but who knows...)

Radio - 20 Watts

Whatever they use for laptop communication with the server - ? (another 20 watts?)

So, that is altogether 170 Watts, or 4 hours of continuous use of all 5 devices. Halve that time to only discharge the battery to a half, and there is still 2 hours of use.

Any thing I might have missed (coffee warmer)?