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BEAUTIFUL FIRST BALE - As harvest season begins for this year’s current cotton crop, cotton gins around west Texas are beginning to put in the long hours to get the job done. For Southwest Willingham Gin, their first bale was packaged last week. Pictured from left in no particular order are; Freddie Brown, Larry Ivins, Gary Willingham, Junior Salazar, Frank Ruiz, Emeterio Trujillo and Todd Willingham. (Staff Photo by Dom Puente)
BEAUTIFUL FIRST BALE - As harvest season begins for this year’s current cotton crop, cotton gins around west Texas are beginning to put in the long hours to get the job done. For Southwest Willingham Gin, their first bale was packaged last week. Pictured from left in no particular order are; Freddie Brown, Larry Ivins, Gary Willingham, Junior Salazar, Frank Ruiz, Emeterio Trujillo and Todd Willingham. (Staff Photo by Dom Puente)
The Levelland Police Department are continuing to improve their department as a whole with the training of their department staff in physical, mental and financial health. Spending in the week running through exercises and tests, the goal for participants is to see continuous improvement. Levelland Police Chief Albert Garcia explained that the physical fitness is exam was implemented in October of last year. During that first round, the purpose of the tests were to gain a base line and revisit those results in six months. Intended to be a bi-annual undertaking, the department participants will revisit their results in six months before the next exam. “All this coincides with a new policy that we formed back in October of last year,” said Chief Garcia. “The goal is to challenge and test our physical fitness, our mental fitness and our financial fitness.”
It is no surprise that the profession of law enforcement comes with stress. That is why the goal of these exams is to make sure all individuals within the department are healthy in different aspects of their lives.
“These exams we put in place are made to ensure we can go out into the field and make sure we do our jobs to the best of our ability for the community,” said Chief Garcia.
Individuals who want to serve their community and being in the position to offer public safety understand that this is not a profession where millionaires are made.
Chief Garcia explained that the financial fitness aspect of these exams are intended to help address the stress of officers trying to make ends meet.
It has become common that officers may pick up additional jobs in other fields of work to make ends meet for their families due to cost of living rising and or other factors at play.
While that may be helpful for some officers, it can cause a lot of stress for them in the field. This portion of the exams allows for that stress to be addressed and managed for the officers.
“The main goal of our wellness program is to try, determine and make sure we are doing the best job we can to provide the citizens of Levelland with the best officers we can by keeping them physically fit, mentally fit and financially fit,” explained Chief Garcia.
For the exams across the board, the goal is not to fail any individual but to encourage and see growth from the previous tests.
Chief Garcia is excited to say the overall weigh loss amount from the entire department has continued to grow.
For the physical exams, the set standards vary for males and females as well as age. Those parameters allow for realistic standards everyone can achieve.
“There is another reason for us wanting this in place, it helps us sustain the officer and make sure they are living a healthier lifestyle,” said Chief Garcia. “I’ve explained to my guys that there is a method to my madness. We may have some big guys that work for us, but I want them to understand I want them healthy to be a part of this team and family until they feel the need to leave this team and family.”
The last thing the Chief Garcia wants is to lose an officer or someone due to a heart attack or stroke, and with this profession the added stress does not help.
As an elected member for the Texas Police Chief Association, Chief Garcia is aware that stroke and heart attacks are a reason the state losses many officers. For the mental aspect of officers, suicide is another factor that takes away many officers every year.