These are all roadblocks to the aspiring young cop, firefighter or paramedic - students who need to learn the creed of trust, respect and fairness; to enter a world where, ideally, the only judgment is made by the law.
For the first time this year at Middle Bucks Institute of Technology in Jamison, a teacher and 18 students are working toward just that. 

The new public safety program aims to prepare high school students for a career as a police officer, private security guard, emergency medical technician or firefighter. 

The students learn paperwork and the physical stuff. Fingerprinting and CPR. They go to jail, hang with the coroner, and decorate their classroom with yellow "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape. 

They talk about racial profiling and have to examine their own biases and hang-ups. They get a photocopied Commonwealth of Pennsylvania citation in class when they break class rules. 

"I've always had an interest in law enforcement ... it's the pride, honor, commitment and courage," said Joseph Kiljanski, a soft-spoken 10th-grader from Plumstead. "But the homework is the hardest part." 

The kids in the class - all boys but for one - start their day at 8:30 a.m., when they doff sneakers and baggy jeans for a uniform of blue shirt, ugly black sneakers and blue pants loaded with pockets, military-style. 

For the first 45 minutes, they do the part they complain about the most  - the part they will complain about for the rest of their lives should they become policemen - paperwork. 

"I do smoke and mirrors to get the English and math in there," said instructor John Fala, who has taught public safety for 15 years. "If they're writing an English composition, it's work. If they're filling out a crime report, it's fun." 

They've learned what a modus operandi is: "What that guy did in 'Home Alone,' when he left the water faucet running so he could burgle the house," according to one student. They've learned about the trial process from newspaper clips on former state Rep. Thomas Druce, who pleaded guilty this fall in the hit-and-run death of a Harrisburg pedestrian. 

They've learned about investigation by walking in one morning to find a "crime scene" in their classroom: yellow tape cordoning off candy wrappers thrown on the floor. Interrogation of witnesses followed, a defense attorney was assigned, and one student was "prosecuted" in an extended lesson. 

And perhaps most importantly for their future, the students also have learned the two most basic principles for anyone in public safety, the two things they will need to depend on at any cost: order and the esprit de corps. 

"When you are going into EMT or firefighting, you don't want to worry about cliques," said Fala, whose students come from several different high schools. "When you call for backup, whoever comes, that's your help. Despite how you feel about them." 

When they finish the program in about a year and a half, everyone will have EMT certification, a firefighter credential and six units of college credit. 

They will know how to draw to scale, and how to don fire gear and run into a burning building in 60 seconds or less. 

Fala, a thoughtful man who takes any opportunity to effuse about his students, said he will try to give them more. 

"I would like them to gain a better respect for themselves, an insight into how they treat and work with other people," he said. "To gain insight into people who work in the field, and be placed in positions as a educated and trained employee." 

Or, as some people put it, a real grown-up. 

Students learn handcuffing techniques.