Wheeling police trained for avoidance of deadly force
Editor's note: Rick Reingold found a civilian police training program provoked deeper thoughts about the challenges officers face. He wrote this account for the Daily Herald.
I reluctantly attended the Wheeling 10-week-long Citizens Police Academy with 40 other eager residents to hear talks about forensics, gang violence, crime detection and other topics. It would not be boring for long.
The most meaningful session was for the "Shoot-Don't-Shoot" program. This life-size video simulator teaches officers what to expect and how to react in life-threatening situations. With lives at risk, it was critical to understand how they would respond.
Watching TV police dramas made shooting look simple. Soon this would change.
In the "Shoot-Don't Shoot" program, I was introduced to a video simulator that could show up to 100 different threat events. I faced a shooting and hostage taking at Wheeling High School. My training officer, Sgt. Paul Hart, the firearms training instructor, tracked each frame and critiqued each shot I made.
I was handed a life-size Glock style air pistol, told that I was to fire a laser light at an interactive screen. The pistol would make a loud gunshot noise and had a real recoil.
I was briefed by Hart for 30 seconds prior to the start on what to expect and then the video started.
I heard loud gunshots, saw students wounded and lying in the school corridor while other students were running in fear. An armed suspect turns and fires at me. Then he starts to run away.
I have approximately 2 seconds to assess the scene, decide what is at risk, determine a target and consider to shoot or not and, if needed, to take a life.
The total sequence took less than 15 seconds. I was able to successfully fire five shots over about four seconds and stopped the suspect cold. It was incredibly lifelike, tense and adrenaline pumping! I had correctly identified and shot the "bad guy" and no students were hurt. I was feeling pretty cocky at this point.
I later joined a role playing game involving two undercover cops who were presented as "suspects" during a minor traffic stop. Each role play was potentially life threatening.
In the role plays, I correctly shot the two "bad guy" suspects. But in the heat of the events, I also shot and killed two bystanders. I only had seconds to make that choice, and I was wrong in both cases.
The deadly decision had become more difficult now and less clear-cut. Others in the class felt that deadly force is needed in special circumstances, but none of us were convinced that they could or would be willing to make that choice themselves; and it was no longer a simple decision.
Wheeling officers confront these same choices. The use of irreversible force weighs heavily on each officer. Talking with Officer Scott Laverd, a career officer with more than 17 years of experience, about deadly force, he felt that "it would be a straight forward decision (for him) to save his life or that of a resident."
So, what do I think now? Not so certain.