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Pike County Times Participates in a Citizen Use of Force Class
By Editor Becky Watts

GRIFFIN - Griffin Police Department offered a Citizen Police Encounters and Use of Force class to members of the media yesterday. The class was held at the Southern Crescent Public Safety House and was attended by Sheila Mathews from The Grip, Ray Lightner from the Griffin Daily News and me. All photos are courtesy of Michael Renew who stayed throughout the 3 hour session to record it in pictures for us.

The three of us were placed in scenarios where we had to choose whether or not deadly force could be used. We were given Simunition firearms and were able to shoot at the “bad guys” with special bullets that bruised even through heavy jackets and gloves. They also wore black masks to protect their face and eyes from the flying gun pellets. Approximately a dozen law enforcement officers from Griffin PD including three young cadets who are going to become law enforcement officers participated in the exercise.

We rolled out onto a call with two people, and the third was our backup that we could call. Some of the calls went well. Others we handled as best we could. The results were not always pretty.

We learned about talking to people who were passionate about whatever situation they were in and talking to de-escalate a situation as well as separating people at an incident without putting ourselves or those involved in harm’s way. It sounds a WHOLE lot easier than it really was.

Disclaimer

I am the wife of a veteran law enforcement officer. I know a little of the law, and I know a little of what goes on in the day to day world of policing. I also, like so many in the public, watch a lot of police shows because I enjoy them.

However, knowing a police officer and seeing bits and pieces of what they go through on a day to day basis when answering calls is NOTHING compared to actually experiencing a few of the calls that they could encounter on any given day.

Real Life Tactics

The first scenario included a call where two individuals who had been criminally trespassed were on a porch and law enforcement responded to the homeowners’ call to ask them to leave. There were three different scenarios that ranged from talking the individuals into leaving to one of the suspects being wanted and one or both having weapons. A little scary but not too bad.

Other scenarios included responding to a couple of possible domestic calls. Screaming and hollering coming from a house and no further information. Males and females were both involved. In one scenario, both “law enforcement officers” were shot when the males in the home pulled guns and shot those who responded. Another had a female who attacked a male in the home with a knife and injured him before she went to jail. Another included a male who ran screaming down the stairs and into the room and didn’t get shot until he reached for a gun that none of us saw by the television.

Two of the most disturbing calls to me included walking in on a homeowner who was holding a bad guy at gun point and speaking to us in rapid Spanish--and none of us spoke Spanish--and responding to an active shooter call with lights flashing and loud gunshots going off. There was also a dispute to a hotel room where a man and a woman gave different stories and the man dove for a gun in a dresser drawer and shot all three of us though Ray shot him despite being shot himself.

We learned that being aware, being able to assess a situation quickly, and using rules that told us whether we could use deadly force in stressful situations is much easier than it looks on television. Seconds count. And innocent people and law enforcement officers can end up dead if we chose incorrectly.

Use of Force

OCGA sections 16-3-21 and 16-3-23 regulate use of force in our state and allow both law enforcement and the public to use deadly force to protect ourselves and others from someone who we believe is going to cause grave bodily harm or death to ourselves or others. However, we were also taught that law enforcement officers also have to judge use of deadly force on whether the person has the ability to harm us—including size and strength, whether the attackers actually have the opportunity to harm us, and whether we were truly being placed in jeopardy with an imminent threat to ourselves or others.

We had to have all three simultaneously to justify use of force in any of the situations. None of us have ever had law enforcement training before but did the best that we could to work together and figure out each scenario without getting injured or shooting any innocent victims. Once again, it is much easier to figure things out while watching a cop show on TV because the pressure of being in the situation isn’t part of the equation.

I died… twice. I also tried to take down a guy bigger than I am who was acting crazy BEFORE we were told that we could use an imaginary taser.

And on the final situation when I went to pull my gun, I couldn’t get it out of the holster because I was using equipment that I practiced with before and after each situation, but it wasn’t familiar enough to me to be able to pull the gun when I needed it.

The not so fun part of the simulation is that I can roll back through the situations in my head to think what I could have done differently and why I responded the way that I did, but I can’t go back and change what happened. In the real world, law enforcement officers don’t have the benefit of being able to slow things down or use hind sight or use additional information to make perfect choices on a call. They have to use the information that they have at the time of the call and do the best that they can on each call.

Closing

Yesterday was one of the most stressful experiences that I have ever encountered. I’ve covered all kinds of police situations, but I’ve always covered them after the fact or with enough separation that I was not an actual part of the situation myself. There is a reason that I am a reporter and did not choose to go into law enforcement. (I would not choose any differently today either!)

However, this gave me the opportunity to see what law enforcement officers go through on a daily basis and know that it is not anything like I see on television. I knew that in my head, but living it out in person is a WHOLE different scenario.

Sheila Mathews asked the three cadets if they had any second thoughts about law enforcement as a career after yesterday’s simulation. They did not have any second thoughts and were excited about their chosen field as a career.

I have always strived to report JUST the news and not put my personal opinions into the article or headlines (unless I make a note from the editor in blue) so this opportunity to put myself in the shoes of law enforcement officers was very valuable to me as a journalist. I will continue to report the news without the fluff and splash that is often seen in print and online media sources.

Thank you to the Griffin Police Department for offering this Citizen Police Encounters and Use of Force class, thank you to Sheila and Ray for going through the class with me, and thank you to Southern Crescent for offering the use of the Public Safety House.

ADDED 8 p.m. on 6.25.16: I am still decompressing over 24 hours after the class is over. Here are my thoughts tonight. It takes a special kind of person to be calm and assess situations both quickly and efficiently in a job like this. And it takes a VERY special kind of person to run toward the sound of screams and shooting when the rest of us are running the other way.

I had respect for law enforcement (and our military who deal with similar situations like this) before I took this class, but this brings a whole new meaning to things for me. (It also brings another level of thought to my husband's line of work that only a law enforcement officer's wife or husband would understand!) Thank you to all who put your life on the line on a daily basis for the good of your communities. It is appreciated more than you know!

6.25.16
 

Getting familiar with the guns.

Talking through the front porch situation.
 

Sheila arresting a bad guy.

After action walk through.

It was as challenging as it looks on the other side of these officers.
 
 

The first time I died. Ray and I both did. The guys are laughing in the background because I was on the other side of Ray slapping the door frame as I walked outside.

The holster had a safety on it that I was not familiar with. (It takes a WHOLE lot more practice than 20 or 30 times to be prepared to use a weapon in a high stress scenario.) Do you see the gun in the bad guy's hand?
 

Responding to an active shooter.

Active shooter down.
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