"This is something else," said Detective Bryan Williams of the Fresno Police Department. "It's a stress reliever. This allows us to relieve stress by boxing, running, we do a lot of conditioning. It keeps us in shape."
16 years ago, Det. Williams was a participant in the Police Olympics. Now, he's coaching three of his fellow officers in this week's event in Reno.
"It's a huge self esteem boost, it's great for morale,' said Officer Lindsay Dozier. "I mean these guys that I train with are like my brothers. They don't look at me as a 125 pound female. They look at me as someone who has to back them up on the streets."
Officer Brandon Turner will fight a San Quentin corrections officer in next month's "Battle of the Badges," in Sacramento. He says boxing helps keep him mentally tough as well.
"The certain situations that you see," said Turner, "It kind of takes a certain person to deal with it. You kind of learn how to see it and then forget it. Kind of move on."
"I'm much more confident in the field," said Williams, recounting a story from his past. "About three years ago I got into it with a suspect out on the streets, all high on cocaine, and I fought for three minutes nonstop until my backup got there. I know if I wasn't in the shape I was in, there's no way I would have handled that struggle."
His students, and on this day an unsuspecting sports local sports reporter, are learning from his experiences first hand. Now it's their turn to handle their business, in the ring.
"Hey I've been training hard," said Dozier. "I hope she's been training as hard as me. I'm ready."
