Police Academy students get to be the cop in third session

Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Officer Josh Westerhold helps Michelle Workman prepare for a traffic stop scenario. Photo by Linda Shankel/Daily Mail

Nevada Daily Mail

For the third week of the Nevada Police Department's Citizens' Police Academy, we were given the opportunity to play the police officer in a traffic stop scenario.

Officers Brian Hanson and Josh Westerhold, along with Det. Sgt. Steve Bastow, first showed us the gear a police officer is armed with on a daily basis, including weapons such as a gun, Taser, pepper spray and collapsible baton, as well as other equipment such as their radio, flashlight and handcuffs.

But Hanson said none of those is a police officer's greatest weapon while on patrol.

"A police officer's greatest tool is his mind," Hanson said, adding that each patrolman has to make decisions in a traffic stop, often with no chance to second guess themself.

Some of the simple, yet potentially significant decisions, an officer faces in a traffic stop can include actions such as giving a warning or writing a ticket, walking up to the driver's or passenger's door or even already having a weapon in hand.

If a situation takes a turn for the worse and becomes violent, the officer then has to decide whether to use lethal force or not. Hanson said lethal force should only be used if the officer is in fear of his or her life, but that can occur when facing an armed or unarmed person.

In any situation where an officer uses force, Nevada Police Chief Graham Burnley said the department always investigates that situation to make sure it was warranted and done properly.

Hanson, Bastow and Westerhold said the officers learn to look for signs during a traffic stop such as a person watching them closely in the rearview mirror, seeming especially nervous or constantly looking at the glove box. But it is then up to the officer to decide whether those clues are signs of innocent nervousness or imminent danger.

"There's no such thing as a routine traffic stop," Hanson told us.

With that in mind, and with the warning that a wrong decision could lead to our own arrest as the "officer" if a court later decides those actions were not justified, the police academy students took turns putting on Hanson's belt, with weapons removed except for a fake handgun, and approached the vehicle where Hanson acted as a driver we had pulled over.

Students were given different scenarios, such as they had pulled the driver over for expired tags, speeding or weaving across lanes. In each case, Hanson responded in different ways.

Some students faced a drawn "gun" as soon as they exited the police vehicle and were "shot." Others were forced to chase him when he ran away or had to "tase" him because he was "high" on an illegal substance and acted dangerously.

When I approached the vehicle, I found the driver slumped over, almost falling out the door when I opened it. It was only after a round of questions, trying to decipher the driver's signals and with hints from the other officers that I finally realized Hanson was acting like a person with diabetes in need of treatment.

Although my scenario did not end in a foot chase, shooting or arrest, I still felt the suspense of not knowing what would happen as I walked toward the vehicle.

Bastow said we might feel anxious at being pulled over as the driver, but it is even more suspenseful for the officer as they walk up, not knowing whether they face a nervous teen or person waiting with a gun.

"He's probably just as nervous as you are," Bastow said of police officers conducting a traffic stop.

Between scenarios, Hanson and the other officers shared tips on what we could have done and even told stories of when they faced a very similar situation, such as having to chase someone on foot, wrestle with someone because the officer had no time to get to a weapon, almost having to do CPR or when caution paid off as they discovered the driver had an AK-47 next to him and was looking for the opportunity to use it.

But Bastow also pointed out that officers are not perfect and make mistakes at times. In those cases, he encouraged members of the community to feel free to file a complaint or fight a citation.

He also said if ever someone feels unsafe when being pulled over, unsure if it is truly a police officer behind them, they should call 911 and request confirmation.

Participants in the police academy said they now see police officers and traffic stops from a new perspective after this opportunity to conduct a simulation of one.

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