Chapter 18: FTO Casual Day

In the following days, Jimmy and Noah maintained a similar routine: patrolling in the morning and practicing shooting in the afternoon.

Jimmy clearly felt that his fondness for the revolver was unusually intense. For someone new to shooting, he was remarkably adept with the revolver, as if it had become muscle memory. Even when fatigued, he could still maintain impressive accuracy. At a distance of 10 meters, hitting the chest target with six shots was no longer a problem, and his lethal zone hit rate exceeded 50%, far beyond what a novice should achieve.

Noah noticed this as well and had mentioned more than once that Jimmy was indeed very talented.

As practice continued, Jimmy grew accustomed to the recoil of the M686. His longest continuous session involved more than ten reloads, firing 60 rounds, and it seemed fatigue, not skill, was the only limit.

Jimmy’s revolver skills had now met Noah’s standards. Once confident in Jimmy’s adaptation, Noah paused the shooting range training and began driver training.

For American police officers, high-speed pursuits are mandatory training. Precision immobilization techniques, such as the PIT maneuver, are considered professional skills—not strictly mandatory but essential to know. The PIT involves striking the rear bumper of a suspect’s vehicle with the side of the police car’s front bumper, causing the suspect’s rear wheels to skid and lose control, forcing the vehicle to stop. This advanced and risky technique can easily cause the suspect’s car to spin or flip, and the police car itself may overturn if the steering cannot be corrected at high speed. Therefore, extensive practice is required before officers are authorized to perform PIT maneuvers, usually carried out by senior officers when multiple police cars are present.

At a remote training ground, Noah demonstrated the driving maneuvers a few times before letting Jimmy take the wheel. Noah sat in the passenger seat, closely observing whether Jimmy’s driving met the Post Commission’s standards.

Jimmy was not unfamiliar with driving, though he had mostly driven fire trucks before—classified as trucks with special licenses. Now switching to a Victoria Crown sedan, he only needed to adjust to the different handling habits, so he was far from a novice without a license.

The Victoria Crown had been a staple police vehicle for decades, with some departments still using them as late as 2022—a testament to the model’s enduring usability and ease of operation.

Noah taught Jimmy everything without reservation: fast starts, emergency stops, sharp turns at intersections, serpentine driving, and PIT maneuvers at designated spots. Within just two days, Jimmy was capable of patrolling as a driver on the road.

After nearly two weeks, Jimmy had essentially met Noah’s expectations. At least outwardly, he appeared to be a qualified police officer. The remaining challenge was gaining experience in handling cases. As for legal knowledge, first aid, hand-to-hand combat, and other police skills, Jimmy had already completed a round of police training during his time as an auxiliary police officer (AP). Since he was the only AP currently on patrol, Noah was well aware of Jimmy’s capabilities.

“Jimmy, starting tomorrow, you’ll be in charge of patrols. I’ll be invisible—just evaluating how you handle the cases.”

“That soon? New officers usually undergo six months of training with an FTO.”

“You don’t have that much time. Start tomorrow—FTO plainclothes day.”

“What’s FTO plainclothes day?”

“Like I said, I’ll wear regular clothes and follow you, assessing how you handle cases without intervening, except in life-threatening situations.”

“Okay, I can do that.”

The next morning, Jimmy arrived early at the precinct, donned his gear, and waited for his shift handover. At 8 a.m., Jimmy and Noah collected their equipment and left the precinct in a police car.

“Jimmy, you’re driving too slow.” On his first patrol drive, Jimmy’s nervousness was obvious, prompting Noah’s comment.

“There’s no call right now. I’m just driving slowly along the road—not in a hurry,” Jimmy replied, continuing to ease along the roadside.

“Adam47, traffic accident at the intersection of West 10th Street and Fairpark Avenue. Caller reports casualties.”

“Adam47 copy.” The dispatch center communicates based on the police car’s call sign and the incident location. Even with a new driver, the call sign remained Adam47.

Jimmy switched on the lights and siren, made a U-turn in the middle of the road, and sped toward the scene. With the siren blaring, Jimmy completely ignored traffic lights, only briefly slowing at intersections to check for cross traffic before rushing through. He had to admit, driving a police car through red lights felt exhilarating.

At the scene, a sedan had collided with a roadside utility pole. The pole leaned precariously toward the road, still partially upright because power lines remained attached. The car’s front end was crumpled, and the driver lay slumped over the airbag, apparently unconscious.

Jimmy parked by the roadside, got out, and approached the vehicle. He tried the door handle but found it locked. Taking out his baton, he used the butt end to break the window, opened the door, unbuckled the driver’s seatbelt, and pulled him out of the car.

He moved the driver to a spot away from the utility pole, checked for breathing, and thankfully found some. The driver seemed merely unconscious, not needing emergency CPR.

“Sir, wake up.” Jimmy gently shook the man a few times, but there was no response. He immediately radioed dispatch. “Adam47 calling: driver unconscious, request ambulance, vehicle damaged, needs tow. Utility pole damaged, contact power company for repairs. Over.”

Jimmy waited by the roadside for the ambulance and tow truck. Noah stood silently nearby, allowing Jimmy to handle the situation entirely on his own.

“Noah, did I make any mistakes?”

“I’ll tell you after this is over.”

Jimmy shrugged and returned to the police car to retrieve an accident report form. He began filling it out on-site, documenting the incident, vehicle details, location, and property damage before signing.

Once the ambulance and tow truck completed their work, Jimmy and Noah returned to the patrol car to resume their rounds.

“Noah, please tell me what I did wrong. Judging by your expression, I must have made mistakes.”

“All right. I was going to review everything at the end of today. Three mistakes: first, you should have called the driver from behind the driver’s side, not approached directly to the window. Second, you should have requested the ambulance or fire department to extract the driver from the vehicle. Third, you never searched the man or verified his identity.”

“He was unconscious. I couldn’t verify his identity.”

“When you pulled him out, you should have performed a quick search to rule out any dangers and obtain ID before administering aid.”