Silver State

[Tenacious T]

i have an interview with them in melbourne tommorow. going into it quite skeptical with a TON of questions. sounds too good to be true. i will post my findings soon afterwards. this is a great site!!

 

 

Asking questions is the best way to get answers!

[fry]

dang fry, i wish i had that info. prior to today. it was not mentioned.

 

Bet this wasn't mentioned either:

 

JOHN L. SMITH

Review-Journal

September 20, 2006

 

Slick sales pitch by sheriff's candidate presents a lot of empty answers

 

 

Give sheriff's candidate Jerry Airola credit.

 

He tells stories with such authority that you can see he's had lots of practice. And I appreciate anyone who is dedicated to the craft of storytelling.

 

In fact, I'll speculate that Airola is the glibbest political newcomer in a decade to land in a general election. That's saying a lot in Nevada, for we attract more high-flying gasbags than a hot-air balloon race.

 

Although Airola lists his occupation as helicopter company owner, I suspect that in a previous career he sold a lot of iceboxes to a lot of Eskimos. He brought his sales skills into the Review-Journal on Tuesday for an editorial board meeting and proceeded to tell us the story of how he would fix the Metropolitan Police Department.

 

Other reporters seemed skeptical, but I found Airola entertaining. In my book, a sheriff's candidate with all the answers is to be cherished -- especially one with a grand total of three and a half years full-time police experience.

 

Everyone agrees Metro has plenty of problems.

 

But Airola says Sheriff Bill Young and his predecessors have been doing it all wrong for a long, long time.

 

Take Metro's budget. Airola believes the sheriff shouldn't be forced to lobby the city and county on funding, and as the new sheriff he would change that to give the office more autonomy.

 

That's great, except it would take a miracle to change the law.

 

And Airola plans to put more cops on the street by going to the people and persuading them that the additional officers are needed.

 

How intriguing. But isn't that what every sheriff in the past two decades has done successfully?

 

And he has this new idea to recruit future officers from local neighborhoods. He also wants cops on the department who aren't in it for the money and benefits, but because they want to make a difference in the community -- a beautiful thought. While he was on a roll, he downplayed out-of-state recruitment but endorsed crime-fighting plans used in California, Arizona, and elsewhere.

 

He also has a plan to use retired officers to work part time for the department to help with everything from filing paperwork to riding shotgun on the night shift.

 

As the man on the Guinness commercial says, "Brilliant!"

 

Except that Metro has such a program in place and has had for far more years than Airola has been a cop.

 

Then there's the issue of training.

 

Under Airola's leadership, Metro officers would receive regular training using "scenarios" taken from actual police situations.

 

Here's another scenario: As an accredited police agency, Metro already has an extensive training regimen and has had for decades.

 

As for the cops on the street, Airola would boost their numbers by drastically reducing Metro's many vice officers and Internal Affairs Bureau officers.

 

At least he'll have the Strip Streetwalkers Union and Cops Gone Wild endorsements.

 

I could go on, but you get the picture. The man who claims he speaks with "hundreds and hundreds" of local police officers wants you to believe that he has all the answers.

 

Well, he doesn't. And neither does his challenger, Undersheriff Doug Gillespie. But at least Gillespie isn't rapping like Burt Lancaster in "The Rainmaker."

 

I don't mind Airola acting like a one-man Santa Ana wind, but the least he could do is admit that most of his bright ideas are in use at Metro. That way people won't start to suspect he's just another political con man with a checkbook who came to hustle the rubes of Southern Nevada.

 

Airola won 22 percent of the primary vote in part by spending upward of $2 million of his own money. Gillespie grabbed 38 percent in the primary largely through the support of Young and the Police Protective Association, who bludgeoned Airola with painful questions about his experience and education. If they'd treated him any harsher, he might have been justified in filing an IAB complaint.

 

If Airola really wants to do the people of Clark County a favor, he'll work to draw out Gillespie for a mature discussion of the many issues facing Metro. There are plenty of topics about which the next sheriff should be vocal and candid, and Jerry Airola probably won't be that man.

 

But at least he'd be putting his formidable sales skills to good use.

 

 

I am currently a student at SSH and have not had any problems.

 

What's the talk around the ole sim regarding Jerry's bailing out? It's gotta make some a little nervous...will the cash you turned over to SSH be there for you finish training?

[Castaway]

excellent point fry and believe me, taken to heart. i am ready to pull the trigger(so to speak) on my helo training, as this will be a big investment/step in my life. i'm 42 with a family of 4 and will retire from my job

(firefighter/medic) in 4-6 yrs. my dream is to have something to do once retirement day is here, and i want to get my foot in the door the RIGHT way. all the input has been great an well appreciated. without this forum, i may have fallen for the "cloud of smoke" put off by a certain company!

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

anytime your in central florida,....... I OWE YA ONE!!

 

Keith

[Jim B]

Hello all,

 

Silver states has moved in to the St Louis Metro area. They have not been here yet and their CFI's have pissed off a lot of operators. There has even been a NOTAm posted at one of the local airports where they have pissed people off and there is no training ops to be conducted there. Even the tower where they fly out of has to carefully choose their words. I hope that there is not too many victims of their scheme here in the metro. I think before anyone wishes to learn to fly that they fully look into all the flight schools in their area before giving their money away. As other posters have said, not everyone requires the money up front.

There are more that 2 flight schools in the St Louis Metro if anyone is interested. One on the east side; www.dandd-aviation.com and on the west side, fly midwest.

 

 

 

jim