Progress

Feel pretty good today. I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed yesterday - today things started coming together and I got a lot done on the budget assignment. I read in the assignment that we needed to include some type of new (to our department) technology. I wasn't sure what to do for that at first. Then I remembered Mike B. doing his tech presentation on pole cameras. I thought that could be a useful thing for us. Mike B. was kind enough to share his info from his presentation with me. Early in the afternoon, I got a phone call from Paul. I don't think he needed anything, but was just checking in with me to make sure I was doing ok on my assignment. We had a conversation yesterday during which I told him how I was struggling with this assignment. That's a good teammate.

How did the day's activities relate to your real-world work experience?
There were several people I needed to talk to to obtain information for my budget proposal. Tried all day, and couldn't get in touch with them. That can be a common theme with me at work. Seems like there are a lot of times I need to contact someone, but can't. During a normal work day, if it's a victim or complainant that I'm trying to contact, it's usually because they don't have a working voicemail. Today it was simply because I needed to talk to other city employees to get financial information, and they were off and out of the office.

How will your real-world behavior change as a result of what you learned today?
Today was enlightening for me. I've never known the first thing about our departmental budget. What I've learned so far on this assignment has made me appreciate the process, and the incredible amount of money required to run a police department.

What could you have done differently that might have impacted your performance?
Today, as yesterday, I set up in our old Lt's office. This room is adjacent to the records bureau, and just across the hall from the squadroom. Both very busy places during a dayshift. Even though I was pleased with the amount of work I got done today, I could have gotten more done if I had been somewhere with fewer distractions. I was interrupted numerous times by the dayshift Lt., the records clerks, and just about everyone else in the Trenton PD that was working today.