Welcome to the Real World : The siren’s song drew this trio to a life centered around three little words: serve and protect. Has the badge kept its gleam?

David Schwacher, Pamela Pitcher and Samuel Rhone graduated from the Los Angeles Police Academy last May, after completing 30 weeks of training.

They spent most of the next year on probation in the L.A. Police Department, working with special officers who trained them to do in real-life situations what they had learned to do at the academy.

In March, the three finished probation and became full-fledged members of the force. After a month’s vacation, each returned eager to read the orders that would dispatch them to their first post-rookie assignments.

The Times first interviewed these officers just after graduation, and again six months into their probation. They were interviewed recently about their final six months on probation and adjusting to their new careers.

*

David Schwacher never imagined himself sitting at a typewriter and answering phones.

The wiry ex-Marine, 31, said he joined the LAPD for an active, exciting career that would also help the community. He finished probation in Northeast Division, took a month’s vacation in his hometown of Milwaukee and came back “really eager to get out on patrol--to use all the things I learned in training. I wanted the good habits to become ingrained in me.”

Instead, he said, he was shocked to receive orders assigning him to a job four flights beneath City Hall, where he now sits at a computer all day, working as a 911 emergency operator. “I never even realized 911 operators were a part of the force,” he said. “I don’t type--I’m learning to hunt and peck. I’ll do the best I can with (this assignment), but it’s real hard for me. And it seems it’s such a waste.”

During probation, he said, he was just becoming comfortable with the actions and judgments necessary in potentially dangerous situations out on the street. Now he fears he may lose it all and be in a vulnerable position when he does get assigned to patrol duty again. The 911 assignment could last nine months or more, he said.

“There are so many civilians that could do this job, so many injured officers and duty officers and pregnant female officers who would be right for it,” he added.

He doesn’t want to sound ungrateful, he said, because he’s so glad to be on the force and to have had such fine training. It’s just that he’s eager, strong and aching to use what he’s learned. And he knows that the city needs more police out on the streets.

He and his wife have two children and own a house outside the city in a community he prefers not to name. He does not think officers need to live in the areas they serve. “I served probation in Northeast Division, and I felt as committed to those citizens as if my family lived there,” he said.

*

Pamela Pitcher, 25, spent her probation year in the San Fernando Valley’s Foothill Division. There, she said, she was paired with veteran officers and had a chance to use all the techniques she had learned in the academy.

She said she also learned to conquer fear. “It’s unrealistic to say cops never feel fear. They do,” she said. “In the academy, you go through scenarios to simulate what it’s going to be like out there on the street. But the same fear isn’t there because you know you’re not going to be killed.

“On probation, you’re in the real world. You get to see how highly experienced officers handle various situations. The more of those you deal with, the more comfortable you become in your job.”

Even at 5 feet, 5 inches and 125 pounds, she can be an authoritative figure, she said. “It’s all a matter of tactics, which they teach at the academy and reinforce during probation. If a suspect feels you are intimidated, he’s got the upper hand. We are trained not to let that happen.”

Pitcher is an athlete; she opposes lowering the physical qualifications to get more women on the force. “The department has 14% women right now. We’re on a push to make those numbers go up. That’s great. But there’s also talk of eliminating some requirements, such as scaling the academy’s six-foot (training) wall. I’m opposed. We need to keep that. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve already scaled walls that high while out in the field on a call.”

After probation, she was assigned to Northeast Division, where so far she has worked the desk, taking reports from citizens who walk in with complaints. Each deployment period is 28 days, she said, so there is a good chance she’ll be out on patrol soon again.

Pitcher and her husband live in the same community as Schwacher; she too doesn’t think an officer has to live in the city to serve it with integrity and enthusiasm.

“Many officers could not afford to live in areas where they would feel comfortable,” she said. “We do not make enough money to buy the same kind of house in the city that we can afford to buy way out somewhere. We start at about $33,000 per year. If we have a college degree, it’s a bit higher. After probation, we get a small raise. That’s where we remain until we are promoted.”

She has dedicated her life to helping others through police work, she said, and wonders how anyone can question her dedication because of her ZIP code.

*

Samuel Rhone is a happy man because, in his words, “I like my work and I like the people I work with.”

Born and raised in Compton, Rhone lives within the Southwest Division, where he spent his probation and where he now works as a patrol car officer. The division “has worst and the best--a little bit of everything.”

Rhone, 30, said community policing has increased since he started his training. And it has had a positive effect on officers’ ability to take care of problems.

“We now have senior lead officers whose job is to get close to the community, to organize neighborhood watch meetings, etc. They tell us about the people’s concerns, exactly what and where the problems are. And they give us the tools to deal with those problems.

“If there’s a gang hanging out in front of a certain house, for example, the senior lead officers tell us and provide us with tools, like appropriate statute numbers to cite the gang members for loitering.”

He said he’s proud that officers in his division “spend the time and take extra steps to try and solve such problems for the long run. They won’t just issue citations, for example--they’ll find out who lives in that house. Is it rented or owned? How can we go about getting rid of the problem permanently, so the good people on that street can live more safely?”

Rhone is 6 feet tall and 195 pounds, with an athletic build. During the last six months of his probation, he said, he participated in numerous criminal pursuits, special assignments and emotionally gripping calls to defuse domestic violence. What gets to him, he said, are calls that involve small children living amid constant violence. “I hate to think of those kids growing up in that atmosphere--and to think of what they may become because of it.”

Off duty, he volunteers at the Al Wooten Heritage Center. “We try to give youngsters an alternative to drugs and gangs. We have tutoring, computer learning and recreation for after-school hours and on Saturdays.”

Rhone said his career goals change constantly. “First it was to get through the academy. Then through probation. Now, it’s to become a training officer.”

That is the next level up in police work, and Rhone said he and a number of others in his graduating class have already taken the test--even though they are not yet eligible to be promoted. “I just wanted to see how I’d do,” he said.

He does not believe that physical requirements should be lowered to allow more women to enter the police force. “We have to jump walls and fences all the time when we’re in pursuit. Let’s just get women who are able to do that.”

He may soon move out of the city. “When I buy a house, which I hope will be soon, I may not be able to afford this area. I may have to move way out somewhere to get something nice. I’ll still love this area and the people. One of them is my mother.”