McMinnville Police Department is currently taking applications for its Citizens Police Academy session. If you haven’t taken one of these, you need to. It’s very enlightening on how challenging it is to be a police officer.
I attended the inaugural Citizens Police Academy in early 2007. The class was meant to build a positive relationship between citizens and police officers. One evening a week for 10 weeks we were given behind-the-scenes looks into narcotics investigation, crime scene investigation, accident reconstruction, patrol procedures, criminal investigations, etc.
One of my favorite classes was a simulation in which we were pretending to be police officers. For the demonstration, several scenarios were taped. We pretended to be the officer responding to the scene. We knew, via the instructions before the class began, that some of these videos would end with the individual pulling a gun and shooting the officer. We had to decide to shoot or not shoot.
Rodney Boyd, McMinnville Electric System general manager and CEO, took the same session as I did. He was shot and killed by a teenage driver who was pulled over because she was suspected of driving while intoxicated. Boyd made the decision to not shoot because “she looked innocent.” Another class member, who watched Boyd’s outcome, walked up to the scene and instantly shot. He made a statement about not wanting to die. However, after watching the complete video, the driver was unarmed and did not try to shoot the officer.
At that time, McMinnville Police Chief Bryan Denton was a major in the department. He informed us that officers sometimes have a split second to make a life-and-death decision.
We had a lot of fun in that class, but the reality of it sank in: This is what police officers go through every day. Every car they pull over and every scene they are called to could be dangerous. In a split second, they have to judge the intent of everyone they come in contact with.
I had only one question. I asked, “What can I do if I’m pulled over to let an officer know I’m not a threat?” This question wasn’t because I feared for my own safety. It was out of compassion for the officer. I can only imagine the stress they must be under on a daily basis. Although I’m not prone to being stopped, my plan is to turn the car off, take the keys out of the ignition, place the keys on top of the car, and place my hands on the steering wheel.
Here recently we’ve had quite a few police officer shootings going on across the nation. I’ve heard a lot of criticism against both the officers and the citizens. I find it hard to rush to judgment against the officers because of that simulation class. I don’t know if the department still offers it as part of the academy’s curriculum, but it should. Officers have a tough job to do. I, for one, couldn’t do it.
Standard reporter Lisa Hobbs can be reached at 473-2191.