PINE BUSH – Recently, Lieutenant Dominick Blasko returned to Crawford after completing a ten week intensive academy at the FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

"It's the FBI National Academy," says Blasko. "It was created in 1935 to make law enforcement in the US more uniform, to get everyone on the same page."

Lieutenant Blasko was one of only nine officers chosen from the greater New York City Metropolitan region — which ranges from Orange County to Montauk — to attend the academy this year.

So, how did he get on that select list?

"They had a spot open. I applied, and I was chosen…the FBI paid for everything."

At the academy, he joined 250 additional command level police officers from all over the world for ten weeks of rigorous, college-level course work in leadership, training, and management.

The academy also had a major physical fitness component.

"We ran the obstacle course every day," he says, describing that obstacle course, famous from Silence of the Lambs, where Jody Foster was seen climbing rope ladders and timber obstacles.

So, Lieutenant Blasko then had ten weeks of living in a dormitory and spending most of his days in a classroom.

"Yes. The worst was being away from my family, but you get used to the rest of it."

"I'm just smarter than I was before," says Blasko, describing how the academy had affected him after ten weeks. "We studied a lot of really interesting stuff."

Among the courses Lieutenant Blasko took were "Evidentiary Photography, which gave me a better understanding of the whole forensic aspect of law enforcement.

"Effective writing, which is designed to improve our writing skills," he adds. "The point is that we're writing history, and it's extremely important to get things right…[and] legal issues for command level officers. We studied the constitution and federal regulations involving employees.

"Media and police relations [is] another important area. The police in any community have an image with the people and the media are a big part of that. There's balancing the people's need to know, with the need to keep investigations on the right path."

In addition to those, there was a course on stress management in law enforcement, which dealth with "the cumulative effect of a law enforcement career and how it affects individuals. Leaders in a police department are responsible not only for keeping the public safe, but also for the well being of our staff."

Last but not least, there was the major topic of "Fitness and law enforcement; we covered everything, from exercise to nutrition and how to live a healthier lifestyle."

Blasko noted that while he was away in Virginia, he stayed in touch with the Town of Crawford Police.

"I spoke every day with the department. I wasn't here, obviously for the day to day, but I was still involved."

"We had some great speakers," says Blasko of his time at Quantico. "Michael Durant, the pilot from the real "Blackhawk Down" addressed the academy. And there was Bobby Smith, a trooper out of Louisiana, who was blinded in the '80s when he was shot in the face. He spoke about taking care of yourself, and it was very effective."

Now, visibly leaner, presumably fitter, and with a wealth of top-level course work under his belt, Lieutenant Blasko is back. Criminals, take note.