This is part one of a 14- part series following Nina Froggatte’s journey through police training at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, Hutchinson. The police academy is a 14- week part of Kansas University’s curriculum. Froggatte began the training March 20, and is set to graduate June 23. The Iola Register will publish weekly updates of her progress.
HUMBOLDT — Nina Froggatte, daughter of Jared Froggatte, detective for the Iola Police Department, and Wendy Froggatte, nurse for Humboldt USD 258, entered the academy the morning of March 20, anxious about finding her way around.
Employed by Humboldt Police Department only since Dec. 1, 2016, enrollment in the academy is another major change she has made in recent months. She began as animal control officer and code enforcement with no prior law enforcement experience.
“She was the best candidate for the job,” Chief of Police Brian Dillow said. “She did not have any police experience but she has really good customer service skills and she is a people person. We knew that right off the bat.”
Nina, 24, graduated from Iola High School in 2011. She held various waitress positions throughout high school and for a few semesters while attending Allen Community College. She still intends to complete a business degree.
“I am not currently enrolled right now. I was kind of hoping to get out of the academy before I put more on my plate,” Nina said.
Nina’s plate is always full. She worked as a crop insurance adjuster for Rain and Hail for over three years, traveling throughout Kansas and to parts of Oklahoma and Nebraska. Though she liked the job, practicality dictated that she resign, she said.
“The down times during the year, when there aren’t many crops, there isn’t much work,” she said. “It was getting hard to make it a full-time job.”
Then Nina tried her hand as a receptionist, but discovered sitting at a desk all day was not her style.
That she took to law enforcement was no surprise.
When she took career tests in high school, law enforcement-related occupations came up every time, she said. Still it has been a career path she has been hesitant to pursue because of the long hours it involves, long hours she has seen her dad take on. Jared Froggatte started out in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Honolulu when Nina was born. Since then he has worked as a specialist for the Army National Guard, a deputy for the Allen County Sheriff’s Department, a patrol officer for the Humboldt Police Department, and twice for the Iola Police Department, where he is currently employed as a detective since 2013. Most of their extended family members reside in Princeton, which is where Nina grew up. She also lived in Pomona. She moved to Iola in 2002.
When the position of animal control and code enforcement became vacant in Humboldt, it was her dad who suggested she give it a try, Nina said.
“I thought well I will just go ahead and apply and do something out of my comfort zone and see what I think about it,” Nina said. “So far, it’s been good.”
Nina said she could be considered to be an animal lover and admitted that after one dog had been impounded for two months she debated bringing it home. Although Nina grew up on a farm and has been around animals all of her life, there has been some challenge to the animal control position, she said.
“Humboldt is a pretty small town and so people will know ‘well it’s so and so’s dog.’ It takes me a little bit longer to figure out whose dog is out,” she said.
Learning all of the codes and the processes of addressing code violations has a certain amount of challenge attached to it as well. Nina said she was accustomed to working with the public but wearing a uniform and adjusting to the public’s perception of law enforcement brought a new dimension to customer service.
Her training over the next 14 weeks will better equip her for her current position as well as the added responsibilities of a police officer when she returns.
“Not everybody is happy when you are coming to pick up their dog or happy about getting code violations,” Nina said.
Nina has dated Cory Eisenbart for seven years. Those public perceptions and sticky situations are the reasons he is a little nervous about her new career choice, Nina said. But they both agree that attending the police academy will better prepare her for patrolling the streets.
“He just wants me to be safe,” she said.
Nina said she is a family-oriented person and spending extended amounts of time away from home is the biggest stress factor for her right now. Even though she traveled as a crop adjuster, she normally made it home every night.
“Being gone throughout the week is probably going to be the hardest part for her,” Jared Froggatte said.
Nina stays at the academy from Sunday through Friday evenings. Anyone caught with a cell phone in class is immediately kicked out, according to Nina.
For the first six weeks the curriculum includes a lot of class time. She studied state statutes and case law her first week. Her first exam was scheduled for last Monday.
Throughout the 14 weeks she will receive instruction in areas like defense tactics, driving in a police chase and firing a handgun.
“Anytime you handle a gun it’s a little nerve-wracking but I am looking forward to getting more experience with that,” Nina said.
What she worries about the most is the EVOC training which includes driving at high speeds around traffic cones through an obstacle course.
“I am not the world’s best driver, I’m sure, so it makes me nervous to be driving that fast,” she said.
Her dad is the one who taught her to drive.
“I taught her to drive in a 1973 Chevrolet two-ton truck in the pasture,” he said. He has no doubt about her ability to ace that part of the training.
One exercise that might fill others with apprehension more than it does Nina, is getting sprayed in the face with pepper spray and then running through an obstacle course afterward.
“I think I will do OK with that, I am not looking forward to it (necessarily) but I am not really nervous about it,” she said. “Other people have had it done and survived, I am sure I will be fine. But I am sure it will not be the most enjoyable thing I have ever done either.”
Nina’s first week at the academy included meeting her roommate, Sarah from Manhattan. Although Nina does not know her last name, that is no indication of how the two are hitting it off. Sarah has more law enforcement experience than Nina has.
“She’s kind of a good sounding board for any questions I might have,” she said.
The daily routine this week included a 7:45 a.m. line-up for drills, uniform inspections and gun draw practice. The rest of the days were filled with classes, an hour for lunch, and then classes that end between 5-5:30 p.m. Nina’s evenings consist of dinner and studying.
She said she got really lucky when it came to uniforms. Each student officer wears the attire from the department they work for. Her uniform includes tactical khaki pants and a polo shirt.
“A lot of people have to wear something more similar to what a state trooper wears,” she said.
There are an unusually high number of girls during this training period, according to Nina. The class includes a total of 67 students ranging from 21 to 50 years old. There are 14 females. She said there is a “brotherhood” that exists between all officers whether male or female.
“The staff is really accommodating and understanding that a lot of us are quite a ways from home and there are things that we will need that we might not necessarily have time to get,” she said.
The most surprising part of her first week, she said, is how strict the academy rules are. Preparing for her first exam was somewhat overwhelming as well, she said. Not knowing the format the test would take and going over the lengthy Fourth Amendment, Nina said she had her work cut out for her.
“I am very proud of her,” Jared Froggatte said. “From what I know of my daughter she can handle herself in any situation that comes up.”
Dillow shares that confidence.
“She catches on quick,” he said. “She’s an intelligent woman and she’s done really well and that’s why we decided to go ahead and send her to the police academy as soon as possible and get her trained.”
Off to the academy
