Life As an Officer... turned Vet Student

 Brandi Miatke, Iowa State 

Life as A Vet Student, Winner

Sitting on the airplane flying back home from Colorado, the city of Boulder to be exact, I was reflecting on the second interview I just had.  As vet school applications (round three) had come and gone without any luck being accepted, I was hopeful to start a new career as an animal control officer for their police department.  During my interview they had informed me I'd be learning how to dart tranquilize cougars and bears and helping with a lot of exotic species of pet snakes and much more!  Although I was scared out of my mind, I was ecstatic!  What a cool job this was going to be! 

Fast forward several months later to me standing on the sidewalk, fully dressed in a police uniform, hands on my hips (well, on my taser holster to be exact), hoping that the  fourteen-year-old kid I was supervising (who had been found with crack cocaine baggies in his tennis shoes) wasn't going to lead me on a foot chase through the city.

Needless to say I did not get the animal control officer job in Colorado, but I DID get a pretty amazing job as a public service officer for the Hopkins Police Department in Minnesota.  I couldn't believe the things I was doing for my job!  Not only was I helping officers with minor drug busts, but I became a first responder for medical emergencies, an animal control officer, and even manager of criminal evidence! 

 Here are just a few of the most unique aspects of my job, but I could probably go on forever. 

1.  I got to drive a police car, very very fast.  I even attended driving school to learn how to drive the fastest (yet safest, of course), spin my car around, dodge pedestrians while speeding and take sharp corners efficiently.  At my job I was able to go "lights and sirens" to all kinds of medical emergencies to help save lives.  Adrenaline rush!

2.  I was in charge of criminal evidence!  Never in my life had I handled guns or drugs, but yet here I was handling bags fulls of marijuana, cocaine, all sorts of handguns and rifles, lots and lots of money, plus a huge array of odd and random items that made their way into the police evidence room.  I was responsible for the integrity of the evidence, the chain of custody, organizing it all, and submitting evidence items to court cases for trials.  Now how's that for an interesting day on the job?

3.  I transported prisoners downtown to jail.  Yup, little Brandi driving a big police SUV transporting a handcuffed guy behind the police cage barricade as he needed to go to jail for his domestic assault charges.  Don't worry, I had learned self defense along with how to use my taser (even got tased myself for the full experience - which was......pleasant.....) plus I could keep a close eye on him through the camera from my driver's seat (although I did get a little worried when he kept falling over asleep........).  At least he woke up in time to tell me that I was going 35 mph while the correct speed limit was 30.  Thank you mister criminal, much appreciated.

4.  I assisted officers on some of the most interesting cases I'd ever seen!  Car thefts, burglaries, apartment fires, drunks (both drunk drivers and people that couldn't quite figure out why they were sitting down hugging the fire hydrant on the corner of the street.....), setting up a perimeter to close in on a criminal on the run, and even a prostitution bust at a massage business (you know, one with "happy endings").  I saw quite a bit of bad stuff on the job too, but it truthfully opened my eyes and offered a lot of life lessons and insight that I'm very glad I gained.  I was able to make a difference with a side of the world that most people don't ever get to see.

5.  I would have to say the funniest part of my job was that people thought I was a cop.  I dressed like a cop, I had handcuffs, a taser and pepper spray, I drove a police squad, etc.  Therefore, when I would be out driving and patrolling the city, people would scramble to put on their seat belts, slow down way below the speed limit, and refuse to make eye contact with me.  While I could hand out parking tickets, I wasn't allowed to pull anyone over in a moving vehicle for any reason.  It did make for a good chuckle from time to time though.

Fast forward two years later and here I am, a poor vet student living the dream in a mobile home park, sucking coffee down as if it were my only chance of survival while I study the pathology of renal diseases in animals.  To some, my life now may seem so boring compared to my previous thrilling career chasing bad guys around the city, but I wouldn't trade my life as a vet student for anything. 

  If anything confirmed my destiny to be a veterinarian, it was the particular cases I tended to gravitate towards as an officer.  Let's just say I probably spent a little more time than I should have solving neighborhood cat conflicts, setting up days of surveillance on feral cat and kittens to help rescue them, creating a protocol for handling dangerous dog cases, transporting an injured turkey vulture and even a crow to the Raptor Center for rehab (after promising my Sergeant I wouldn't flip on my lights and sirens to make it there faster), oh and stopping traffic with my police car so the wild chipmunk could safely cross the busy road.

I think it's safe to say I'm where I'm supposed to be, living life as a vet student.