Desire to Make a Change in his Community, Former Knights Lacrosse player heads into Law Enforcement
Laurinburg, N.C. - While college students are typically busy enjoying their social life on Saturday nights during Christmas Break, Fuquay-Varina native Wes Ilg had his focus on something a little different.
Pondering what career path he was going to take post-college, he inquired about his neighbors’ jobs in law enforcement one day. Enticed by their stories and experiences, he decided to do a “ride-along” to see what it was like.
“I have a few neighbors who work with the Raleigh Police Department…and I was talking with them and kind of just fell in love with it,” Ilg said. “I couldn’t think of something better to do. I did a ride along earlier in January before we came back for the spring (semester). I did that for about six hours one night on a Saturday and I was like, this is awesome.”
An inherently stressful and complicated role, Ilg knows the job will test his character and emotional endurance. Nevertheless, his desire to help people and make a difference in his community is the main motivation in making the decision.
“They were explaining everything to me in the car and what they do, and just seeing how you can have a positive impact on the community and seeing how you can truly benefit people’s daily lives was great. The area I want to work in is southeast Raleigh. It’s not the best area. In the grand scheme of Raleigh, it’s the worst area and no one wants to work there. I feel like it’s the area I could make the most impact on people’s lives and it’s why I fell in love with it.”
His first steps in taking on the tall task will be the six-month Police Academy in July, where he will be taught skills in criminal investigations, patrol procedures, firearms training, traffic control, defensive driving, self-defense, first aid, state laws, and computer skills.
Once finished, he will be sworn in as a police officer. That will be followed by 20 weeks of field training with a field training officer. After that, he will be sent on patrol independently.
He hopes to be assigned to southeast Raleigh where he can begin to positively impact the lives of citizens.
“The people who want the police around are people who are trying to live their daily lives, trying to work, trying to provide for their family,” Ilg said. “They’re not doing anything wrong, but they’re surrounding by wrong just because of the community they’re from. I think just that little bit of being able to help people like that is what stuck out to me.”
Even though his focus will be on his budding career, he’s still not ready to put lacrosse out of his life entirely. Naming it as the “number one thing he will miss after graduation,” Ilg hopes to help coach lacrosse at his high school alma mater, Fuquay-Varina, to stay around the game. He has lent his time as a volunteer coach over the last few years and hopes to land a regular position somewhere soon.
Continuing with his desire to help make the lives better of those around him, his main goal is simply to “leave it better than when he got there.”