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Police Academy Diaries

POLICE ACADEMY DIARIES:

Final exams ended, 6 cadets will graduate on Saturday

Posted on 25 July 2012 by Pahrump Valley (Nevada) Times

By Kelsey Givens

“Sir, stop, stop right there!”

“Stop, come out and put your hands where I can see them!”

“Bang, bang, bang!”

No, those weren’t the sounds of a potentially dangerous standoff between police and an unknown suspect, but rather the loud commands from a role playing exercise during the Nye County Sheriff’s academy practical exams Thursday night.

Six cadets have officially entered the practical exam portion of their education; one of the last road blocks between them and the graduation scheduled for this weekend.

It’s a time where the cadets must show instructors what they’ve learned, and prove they understand how to handle situations they will face as full-fledged officers in the field.

Over the last two weeks, cadets have been thrown a variety of different scenarios they must respond to and decide, based on their training up to this point, how best to handle.

From traffic stops to landlord tenant issues to domestic batteries and burglaries in progress, the cadets have been moving through these fictional situations, demonstrating the skills they’ve learned over the last 27 weeks of the academy.

The exams, so far, have been conducted in relatively remote locations with few other people around, so as not to scare the public, academy instructor Deputy Brian Jonas said.

Horace Langford Jr./PVT - NCSO Cadets Elia Johnson and  Kaitlyn Ferrell giving commands to suspect (NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker).
NCSO Cadets Elia Johnson and Kaitlyn Ferrell giving commands to suspect (NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker). photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT

“We pick locations that don’t have a lot of public, because we don’t want people freaking out,” he explained. “It’s for our safety and the public’s safety; they don’t need to worry about that kind of stuff.”

The exams began with what Jonas called “unknown risk traffic stops,” or what some may refer to as a routine traffic stop.

During the first few days of practicals, cadets were making their way around town, pulling over designated role players, practicing how to conduct a traffic stop and how to interact with dispatch when checking a driver’s license and license plate numbers.

“We did that a little bit of what we call an unknown risk traffic stop that a lot of people like to say is a routine traffic stop, which we don’t say they are because they’re an unknown risk to us,” Jonas said at the end of the first week of exams. “And they’ve been doing those on role players, not the general public, for the last day or two.”

And to keep cadets thinking on their feet during the stops, Jonas said they added surprises to the scenarios like having weapons in the cars, having someone get out of their vehicle and try to run, or having the role player actually take off on the responding cadet.

Mixed in with the unknown risk stops, were more high risk felony stops, which required cadets to assist one another and provide backup, as officers never answer these types of stops or calls alone.

“We never do any type of stop with anyone that is potentially armed and dangerous or a felon suspect with just one deputy,” Jonas said.

So cadets practiced teaming up and working together to pull over a designated vehicle, before ordering the “felons” out and to the ground where they could be detained.

During the following week, the class moved on to responding to other sorts of calls, like a man with an axe in the middle of the road and a burglary in process at an impound lot

Sometimes during these scenarios, cadets were called out to respond and would have to decide whether or not to request backup and sometimes backup was assigned before they even arrived “on scene.”

During the burglary in progress situation, cadets were working through Thursday night, the trainees were called out to the NCSO impound lot, where the alleged burglary was taking place.

When the cadets pulled up to the lot, the gates sat slightly ajar and several role players dressed in all black awaited the cadets’ arrival inside the fenced yard.

 NCSO cadet Kaitlyn Ferrell chasing a suspect at the impound lot during training exercise Thursday evening.photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT -
NCSO cadet Kaitlyn Ferrell chasing a suspect at the impound lot during training exercise Thursday evening.
Photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT

As the cadets pulled up to the lot in marked patrol cars, one “suspect” would dash out and take off, while the other remained inside, waiting to react to the cadets’ commands or to expose their mistakes.

During one round of the exercise, a cadet forgot to lock his car door, and one of the role players stole it.

And in another instance, a role player grabbed an air soft gun they were using in the scenarios and shot one of the cadets; showing him he wasn’t keeping watch of the area well enough, something that in real life would be extremely dangerous.

Though they made mistakes, role players and instructors were quick to point out what they did right when they met once the drill was over.

“They get critiqued right afterward by the evaluators and the role players,” Jonas said. “And then the evaluators and role players will report to me, and we’ll go back over the scenario with them and make sure they understood what they did wrong.”

During these critiques, evaluators would point out exactly where cadets failed, and explain or show them how they would have done it better.

Once the cadets had been shown what they needed to work on, if they failed the scenario, they would be sent back through a modified version of the exam again.

“If somebody does fail, they do remediate,” Jonas said. “We’ll slightly modify the scenario, so it’s not the same thing, or obviously they’ll get it, and they redo the scenario.”

If a cadet were to fail the scenario again, they would go through a much more intense remediation, as well as counseling, until either they got it, or it became clear that person wasn’t cut out to be an officer.

“If they continue to where an individual, at any part of the academy, whether it’s practicals, or academics, or any portion of the academy, they get to the point they’re not responding to our training, that’s when we determine this person’s not cut out to be in law enforcement,” Jonas said.

“At any point, whether it’s in the academy, the field training program, or whatever, if they’re having deficiencies we sit down and explain it and retrain them, whether it’s scenarios, or we concentrate on traffic stops or their verbal skills to talk to people.

“And then, if we see continued progress in a positive direction, then we keep going, but if we don’t see a response in a positive manner to our training, that individual is then not cut out for law enforcement,” he said.

So far, though, Jonas said the cadets have been doing well, other than a few nerves in the beginning.

NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker maintaing vigil over the impound lot after his partner contains suspect. photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT
NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker maintaing vigil over the impound lot after his partner contains suspect. Photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT

“We haven’t had any major hurdle issues or anything, probably just a lot of nerves and anticipation from them in the beginning,” he said. “They know they’re being evaluated by the people who will be evaluating them in the streets.”

Over the last two weeks, cadets had to successfully log 36 hours working through scenarios, in order to finish the practical exam portion of their education.

With that behind them, the cadets can now look forward to the culmination of all their hard work over the last 27 weeks — graduation.

Of the six who have made it through the academy thus far, five, Mike Connelly, Katlyn Ferrel, Alvin Hill, Chris Hopson and Elia Johnson, who were all hired using a law enforcement grant, will go on to become full-fledged patrol officers for NCSO. The sixth, Jeremy Bunker, who put himself through the academy, plans to move on to work for parole and probation in Las Vegas.

The graduation ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at the Bob Ruud Community Center.

From here, the cadets will move onto the 22-week field training program, where they will continue their training and education.

Editor’s note: This is one in an occasional series about the Nye County Sheriff’s Office 27-week police academy. Though graduation is near, the series will continue when the freshly-minted police officers begin their field training. Look for those stories in future issues of the PVT.

 

Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – – Nye County Sheriff’s academy cadets Elia Johnson and Katlyn Ferrel order cadet Chris Hopson to the ground during a felony traffic stop scenario as part of the academy’s practical exams.

 

 

 

Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker maintains vigil over the impound lot after his partner contains a fleeing suspect. The exercise was part of practical exams that test cadets on a variety of risky situations.

 

Categories
Writer's Notes

Police Academy Diaries

POLICE ACADEMY DIARIES:

Final exams ended, 6 cadets will graduate on Saturday

Posted on 25 July 2012 by Pahrump Valley (Nevada) Times

By Kelsey Givens

“Sir, stop, stop right there!”

“Stop, come out and put your hands where I can see them!”

“Bang, bang, bang!”

No, those weren’t the sounds of a potentially dangerous standoff between police and an unknown suspect, but rather the loud commands from a role playing exercise during the Nye County Sheriff’s academy practical exams Thursday night.

Six cadets have officially entered the practical exam portion of their education; one of the last road blocks between them and the graduation scheduled for this weekend.

It’s a time where the cadets must show instructors what they’ve learned, and prove they understand how to handle situations they will face as full-fledged officers in the field.

Over the last two weeks, cadets have been thrown a variety of different scenarios they must respond to and decide, based on their training up to this point, how best to handle.

From traffic stops to landlord tenant issues to domestic batteries and burglaries in progress, the cadets have been moving through these fictional situations, demonstrating the skills they’ve learned over the last 27 weeks of the academy.

The exams, so far, have been conducted in relatively remote locations with few other people around, so as not to scare the public, academy instructor Deputy Brian Jonas said.

Horace Langford Jr./PVT - NCSO Cadets Elia Johnson and  Kaitlyn Ferrell giving commands to suspect (NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker).
NCSO Cadets Elia Johnson and Kaitlyn Ferrell giving commands to suspect (NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker). photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT

“We pick locations that don’t have a lot of public, because we don’t want people freaking out,” he explained. “It’s for our safety and the public’s safety; they don’t need to worry about that kind of stuff.”

The exams began with what Jonas called “unknown risk traffic stops,” or what some may refer to as a routine traffic stop.

During the first few days of practicals, cadets were making their way around town, pulling over designated role players, practicing how to conduct a traffic stop and how to interact with dispatch when checking a driver’s license and license plate numbers.

“We did that a little bit of what we call an unknown risk traffic stop that a lot of people like to say is a routine traffic stop, which we don’t say they are because they’re an unknown risk to us,” Jonas said at the end of the first week of exams. “And they’ve been doing those on role players, not the general public, for the last day or two.”

And to keep cadets thinking on their feet during the stops, Jonas said they added surprises to the scenarios like having weapons in the cars, having someone get out of their vehicle and try to run, or having the role player actually take off on the responding cadet.

Mixed in with the unknown risk stops, were more high risk felony stops, which required cadets to assist one another and provide backup, as officers never answer these types of stops or calls alone.

“We never do any type of stop with anyone that is potentially armed and dangerous or a felon suspect with just one deputy,” Jonas said.

So cadets practiced teaming up and working together to pull over a designated vehicle, before ordering the “felons” out and to the ground where they could be detained.

During the following week, the class moved on to responding to other sorts of calls, like a man with an axe in the middle of the road and a burglary in process at an impound lot

Sometimes during these scenarios, cadets were called out to respond and would have to decide whether or not to request backup and sometimes backup was assigned before they even arrived “on scene.”

During the burglary in progress situation, cadets were working through Thursday night, the trainees were called out to the NCSO impound lot, where the alleged burglary was taking place.

When the cadets pulled up to the lot, the gates sat slightly ajar and several role players dressed in all black awaited the cadets’ arrival inside the fenced yard.

 NCSO cadet Kaitlyn Ferrell chasing a suspect at the impound lot during training exercise Thursday evening.photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT -
NCSO cadet Kaitlyn Ferrell chasing a suspect at the impound lot during training exercise Thursday evening.
Photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT

As the cadets pulled up to the lot in marked patrol cars, one “suspect” would dash out and take off, while the other remained inside, waiting to react to the cadets’ commands or to expose their mistakes.

During one round of the exercise, a cadet forgot to lock his car door, and one of the role players stole it.

And in another instance, a role player grabbed an air soft gun they were using in the scenarios and shot one of the cadets; showing him he wasn’t keeping watch of the area well enough, something that in real life would be extremely dangerous.

Though they made mistakes, role players and instructors were quick to point out what they did right when they met once the drill was over.

“They get critiqued right afterward by the evaluators and the role players,” Jonas said. “And then the evaluators and role players will report to me, and we’ll go back over the scenario with them and make sure they understood what they did wrong.”

During these critiques, evaluators would point out exactly where cadets failed, and explain or show them how they would have done it better.

Once the cadets had been shown what they needed to work on, if they failed the scenario, they would be sent back through a modified version of the exam again.

“If somebody does fail, they do remediate,” Jonas said. “We’ll slightly modify the scenario, so it’s not the same thing, or obviously they’ll get it, and they redo the scenario.”

If a cadet were to fail the scenario again, they would go through a much more intense remediation, as well as counseling, until either they got it, or it became clear that person wasn’t cut out to be an officer.

“If they continue to where an individual, at any part of the academy, whether it’s practicals, or academics, or any portion of the academy, they get to the point they’re not responding to our training, that’s when we determine this person’s not cut out to be in law enforcement,” Jonas said.

“At any point, whether it’s in the academy, the field training program, or whatever, if they’re having deficiencies we sit down and explain it and retrain them, whether it’s scenarios, or we concentrate on traffic stops or their verbal skills to talk to people.

“And then, if we see continued progress in a positive direction, then we keep going, but if we don’t see a response in a positive manner to our training, that individual is then not cut out for law enforcement,” he said.

So far, though, Jonas said the cadets have been doing well, other than a few nerves in the beginning.

NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker maintaing vigil over the impound lot after his partner contains suspect. photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT
NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker maintaing vigil over the impound lot after his partner contains suspect. Photo by Horace Langford Jr./PVT

“We haven’t had any major hurdle issues or anything, probably just a lot of nerves and anticipation from them in the beginning,” he said. “They know they’re being evaluated by the people who will be evaluating them in the streets.”

Over the last two weeks, cadets had to successfully log 36 hours working through scenarios, in order to finish the practical exam portion of their education.

With that behind them, the cadets can now look forward to the culmination of all their hard work over the last 27 weeks — graduation.

Of the six who have made it through the academy thus far, five, Mike Connelly, Katlyn Ferrel, Alvin Hill, Chris Hopson and Elia Johnson, who were all hired using a law enforcement grant, will go on to become full-fledged patrol officers for NCSO. The sixth, Jeremy Bunker, who put himself through the academy, plans to move on to work for parole and probation in Las Vegas.

The graduation ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at the Bob Ruud Community Center.

From here, the cadets will move onto the 22-week field training program, where they will continue their training and education.

Editor’s note: This is one in an occasional series about the Nye County Sheriff’s Office 27-week police academy. Though graduation is near, the series will continue when the freshly-minted police officers begin their field training. Look for those stories in future issues of the PVT.

 

Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – – Nye County Sheriff’s academy cadets Elia Johnson and Katlyn Ferrel order cadet Chris Hopson to the ground during a felony traffic stop scenario as part of the academy’s practical exams.

 

 

 

Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – NCSO Cadet Jeremy Bunker maintains vigil over the impound lot after his partner contains a fleeing suspect. The exercise was part of practical exams that test cadets on a variety of risky situations.

 

Categories
Tales from the Barking Muse

Police Academy part 3

This is the last of 3 guest posts from Gerry Goldshine

 More firearms training

I’m really not sure what I was expecting from a relatively small regional academy, but it wasn’t firearms training from someone who split his time between firefighting and police work in the South Bay. I’m not saying he was not a decent instructor; it just was not what I was expecting. While I had qualified “Expert” with an M-16A1 rifle in the Army, I was only shooting just slightly above average with that .357 pistol. It wasn’t until several years later, that a new range-master discovered while right-handed, I was left eye dominant, which had a great effect on my pistol shooting accuracy. In addition to the firing range, we also received training in what was called “Shoot-Don’t Shoot”. The idea was to develop situational awareness and judgment when employing deadly force. Our “state of the art” technology back then for the practical portion of this training consisted of a video projector, a butcher paper screen and a pistol that fired wax bullets. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that felt a bit foolish yelling “Freeze!” at that butcher paper.

Emergency Vehicle operation

Stanford, Ca Police Community Academy 2007

While firearm training was a bit of an ongoing process, emergency vehicle operation training was done over a three day period. All of us were excited because we were going to be the first class to receive training through the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving at what would become Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma. Boy, were we disappointed. First of all, the vehicles we were to train with were compact cars, nothing like the big high powered beasts we would be driving with our various departments. None of the vehicles had any emergency equipment installed. There were no flashing lights, no sirens or radios; none of the distractions that would drive our adrenaline sky high under actual emergency conditions. Then there were the instructors; they may have been excellent race car drivers but none had any law enforcement background or experience driving emergency vehicles that they could share with us. I suppose the final frustration was that we were not permitted to drive over 35 miles per hour during any phase of our training. I got very proficient at avoiding cones that day and not much more. Among the first supplemental training that I received upon graduation, was eight hours of training with their driving instructor using retired patrol cars from the Sheriff’s Office. I’m here to tell you there is no quicker learning experience than losing one of those vehicles in turn at 65 miles an hour because you didn’t set up properly entering a corner.  As a result of that training, I had confidence in my driving abilities the night I pursued a suspect who had just committed an assault with a deadly weapon and who had tried to run me off the road, down Highway 101 at over 120 miles per hour, one hand on the steering wheel, the other holding the microphone to communicate with dispatch–the siren, radio and scanner blaring away. At the same time, I had to be aware of my location, that of other responding units, other traffic ahead and around me, changing weather and road conditions. I had to constantly evaluate whether any of those variables would make the safety of the public outweigh the need to continue the pursuit. All of that was something the Bondurant experience failed to provide in their block of training.

Tear Gas

St Paul, Mn. tear gas at demonstration Sept. 2008

As the weeks went by, our sponge-like minds tried desperately to absorb still more data in yet additional subject areas. There were classes on how to write police reports, criminalistics (that whole CSI thing) and everyone’s favorite, accident investigation. Then came training in non-lethal defense methods, which meant some form of CN or CS or what is more commonly known as tear gas. Our practical exercise involved a group of us going inside a closed plywood shed accompanied by an instructor where they would expose us to some form of that blessed substance. Unbeknownst to our instructor was the fact that I had been an instructor of essentially the same type of training for many years when I was in the Army. As my group nervously entered the shed, I found a corner, leaned back and steadied my breathing. As the effects of the gas hit them, my fellow recruits hit the door to get out like a stampede of water buffalos. It wasn’t long before it was just the instructor and I staring at each other, him with a very surprised expression. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” he asked after about five minutes had passed and I still hadn’t gone running for the exit. I nodded my head and then explained my background. He asked if I wouldn’t mind leaving before him as it would damage his mystique if I came out after him. Still, for about a day or so, I was quite the sensation having stayed as long as I did.

 

Felony Vehicle Stops

Suffolk County felony car stop training

As we neared graduation, we were all looking forward towards finally getting instruction on making vehicles stops. Vehicles stops are perhaps the most common, one of the most complex as well as most dangerous activities for a patrol officer. As an officer, you have no idea what the intentions are of the driver of the vehicle you are stopping. Have they just committed a crime? Are they armed with a weapon? Are they intoxicated? Are they going to flee when you turn on your emergency lights? In addition, you have to exercise proper radio procedure in notifying dispatch of your stop. You have to know something as basic as the location where you are making the stop. You have to be aware of traffic around you, how you park your patrol vehicle and how you walk up to the car you’ve stopped. You also have to pick a good spot to stand when you make contact with the driver. While no means the last thing that goes into a traffic stop, how you talk to the driver can calm a tense situation or escalate a calm one. Though I had already made several hundred vehicle stops while in the Military Police, I was painfully aware that what little I knew about vehicle stops came from a class on patrol procedure in college and some on the job instruction I got from one the soldiers who worked for me. Not exactly something to inspire confidence in my abilities.

As was the case with my firearms training, I’m still not sure what my expectations were as to training when it came to vehicle stops, both low risk or “routine” and high risk or “felony” stops. I know I was anticipating more than about twelve hours of both classroom and practical instruction. Many of us felt the scenarios devised by our instructors for the high risk stop exercises were ridiculously complex and bordered on the impossible.

The geekier side of me recalled the Star Trek “Koboyasi Maru” test; for those non-Trekkies, it was a final exam scenario at the Starfleet Academy that was designed to be impossible to survive. I can vaguely recall my own “Koboyashi Maru” test; it was night in a poorly lit area and another recruit and I were to make a car stop on a vehicle that contained four “armed” suspects. As the vehicle came to a stop, all four bailed out of the car and ran off into the darkness. Our “backup” was many minutes away leaving us to decide on a course of action. If both of us went after the suspect, the bad guys would have been lying in wait and “shot” us both. If one stayed and one pursued the suspect, the chase would have ended with either the recruit officer being “shot” or taken hostage. If both officers stayed, then they would be ambushed because the suspects had doubled backed to launch an attack against them as they waited for back-up help to arrive. It was a designed to be a no win scenario.

Graduation

Academy Graduation Certificate

Finally, the big day arrived; graduation. I had finished fourth out of our graduating class of twenty-four. I walked up to the auditorium stage in my spiffy new uniform literally almost ready to bust my buttons with pride. Alongside my two fellow deputies, we received our graduation certificates from the Sheriff. Unlike Mahoney and his bunch of misfits from the Police Academy movies, we weren’t about to be turned loose upon an unsuspecting public. Ahead of us lay nearly another twelve weeks of training in the field under the watch eyes of our Field Training Officers. This was by no means a complete detailed accounting of not only just the academy I attended but of the many other law enforcement academies throughout the country, both then and now. Each recruit or cadet comes away with their own unique litany of successes, failures, achievements and disappointments and what I have written about are those experiences that I considered still note worthy enough to share after all these years.

 

Petaluma Police T-36 Gerry Goldshine 1987
photo by Mike Kerns

Gerry Goldshine is the author of this guest post.  Born in Providence, Rhode Island but raised in Southern California. Upon graduating California State University, Los Angeles, Gerry enlisted in the Army and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. After leaving active duty in 1979, he worked for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. From 1980 until his retirement in 1996, he was a patrol officer, traffic officer, gang officer, field training officer and criminal resource officer at Petaluma Police Department. He has received training from Northwestern University Traffic Institute, California Highway Patrol, Institute of Police Technology and Management, Texas A&M Engineering Extension, College of the Redwoods and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Operation Safe Streets. He’s been married to his wife Linda for 33 years, has a daughter and lives in Sonoma County, California.

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