Week 2: Patrol - Raytown Police Citizen's Academy

Week 2 of the Raytown Police Citizen's Academy was a busy one! 

We met at the police department in the squad room where Captain Randy Hudspeth kicked off the night with a discussion about Department Structure.  He went over what his role entails as the Patrol Captain.  He oversees patrol and the crisis intervention team.  Captain Hudspeth explained in more detail how the chain of command works during an incident.  The group asked lots of questions which was great!

Captain Hudspeth talked about training.  They send officers to either KCMO Police Departments Academy or the Police Academy at Blue River Community College depending on when a candidate is hired and which academy is about to begin. The Kansas City programs whether it be at KCPD or BRCC is a 600 hour program compared to other programs that are only 470 hours.  Captain Hudspeth indicated that officers hired by Raytown PD must be at the top of their class.  They don't hire below average officers.  I asked what the drop out rate was for recruits in the academy.  Captain Hudspeth wasn't sure but estimated it could range from 20-40 percent (nationwide).  Raytown is not shy to dismiss a recruit who is not performing well again citing that they only want the best! 

Captain Hudspeth also went over different incident situations RPD experiences.  Chief Lynch reviews all incidents involving use of force, car chases, barricaded subjects and other critical incidents.  Captain Hudspeth reviewed the Priority of Life which is in the following order:  1) Victims/Hostages; 2) Innocent Bystanders; 3) Officer; 4) Suspect.  In other words, victims life comes first, innocent bystanders are next, officer survival is next and suspect is last in priority when evaluating a life threatening situation.  One question a participant asked was in regard to when an officer can shoot a suspect.  Captain Hudspeth briefly reviewed Tennessee vs. Garner. Prior to 1985 if an officer has given notice of an intent to arrest a criminal suspect and the suspect flees or forcibly resists, "the officer may use all the necessary means to effect the arrest" including shooting the suspect. This law was viewed as a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  After 1985 (and the suit Tennessee vs. Garner) officers have to have probable cause for believing that a suspect "poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury," and cannot shoot a suspect just for trying to evade arrest.  If you want to read the case law regarding Tennessee vs. Garner follow this link:  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=471&invol=1.


Next up was Detective Anthony Hall who discussed the Color Guard.  He was dressed in uniform and explained what was different from the Color Guard uniform vs. the uniform they wear working patrol, etc.  The Color Guard performs at Special Events including sporting events, funerals, parades, etc.  There are 5 full time and 3 reserve officers that make up the Color Guard.  Officers must go through a selection process to become part of the Color Guard.

 

Next was Sgt. Jared Rogers who discussed SWAT.  He brought equipment out to allow participants to get an up close look at.  I failed to take pictures, sorry!  SWAT is a part time unit meaning officers have regular roles they participate in whether it be patrol, traffic, etc and are on-call for critical incidents that would require the tactical team (ie SWAT).  They are on call 24/7.  The SWAT team must go through special training and generally has 2 days of specific SWAT training per month on top of their regular duties and training.  They must also be more proficient with their firearms.  They must qualify at 90% or better on their weapons versus officers who are required to only qualify at 70% or higher on their weapons.  Sgt. Rogers joked that "we (SWAT) show up when the cops call 911".  I probably wasn't supposed to repeat that comment... oops! :-)  SWAT is activated in situations such as Barricaded Subjects, High Risk Warrant (Felony), Hostage Rescue and Counter Terrorism.  SWAT includes snipers, an entry team and a perimeter team.  There are currently no women on the SWAT team.  Sgt. Rogers indicated that no women currently serving as officers at RPD have expressed interest in being on SWAT.  RPD has 7 sworn female officers.

 

The remainder of class included a tour of the building.  We got to spend a few minutes in Dispatch.  Dispatch handled approximately 45,000 calls in 2012.  They have longevity in Dispatch with one employee being there for 32 years and another for 26 years.  Wow, that's impressive!  Talk about continuity of care. 

                                     

A few minutes in Booking:

 Booking Window

And because some prisoners were brought in from Johnson County MO (Wed is court day) we were not able to go in to Detention.  This is as far as we got:

Door to Detention

And finally, we reviewed the vehicles used in their fleet including the patrol cars, motorcycles, unmarked cars, SWAT van, Command Vehicle and portable communications.  No pics, sorry!  

 

I am actually enjoying this Citizen's Academy a little more than I anticipated.  I decided to attend because I wanted to see what was different between a Sheriff's Office and a Police Department.  I thought I would attend KCMO or Shawnee's academy but when this opportunity came up I decided to go with it.  I am on the waiting list for KCMO so who knows, maybe I will attend that one in the future.  For now, I am experiencing what I can at RPD.  I think I am enjoying this one more because I am not under as much stress as I was when I attended the JCSO academy.  If you recall (or don't know), I experienced a fire just before the JCSO academy started.  At the same time as the fire, a major changed occurred for me at work and well for lack of a better way to say it.... I was stressed!  I did this blog thinking it would help me heal (plus I had already told someone I would blog about the citizen's academy!).  In a way it did help me heal, but in a way it made attending the citizen's academy more stressful.  Once people knew I was doing the blog it became more of a job than I anticipated and I was getting attention I didn't anticipate getting (from JCSO and others).  I didn't tell anyone this time around that I was blogging about the citizen's academy.  I know from the JCSO academy what things I probably should not blog about and so therefore I will keep things confidential that should stay confidential (and if I'm not sure I'll ask!).  I will probably be less specific this time around and use the blog to summarize rather than detail the academy.  So far, I feel like it has been a good approach.  We'll see what the future holds... 

 

Next week we are back at the Library for a more lecture type atmosphere and will cover things such as bomb squad (Lee's Summit PD will be presenting), Crash Investigation, Narcotics, Gangs, etc.  Stop by here next week if you want to read the summary.

 

 Oh and for the record... I didn't take any of these pics myself.  They are borrowed from the RPD facebook page.

Week 6 Continued... S.E.R.T./Tactical Considerations - JCSO Citizen's Academy

S.E.R.T.:

S.E.R.T. is another acronym for SWAT.  S.E.R.T. stands for Sheriff's Emergency Response Team.  Here is some of the equipment used by S.E.R.T.:

Lethal and less lethal options.

Very expensive stuff!  Hence why not all deputies are trained and only those selected to SERT use the equipment.  It can be used by other departments and agencies if needed though.

This is one of the robots used by the SERT team.  It has voice, video and stair climbing capabilities.

More pics:

Forced entry in to closed door.

One of the less lethal weapons. 

Some of the participants couldn't resist trying on the equipment! :)

Participants got to "drive" the robot.

Can't imagine having to carry that shield!  Forgot to ask how much it weighs...

Sgt. Moore speaking about the small remote control robot. 
Lt. Hill in the background.

Gear the S.E.R.T. unit wear when going in to crisis situations.

That is a big gun!  Okay so it doesn't shoot bullets but still... 

S.E.R.T.  was started in 2003.  It is a "Life Saving Unit".  The goal of the unit is to end the situation peacefully whenever possible.  Situations rarely end in violence like the movies and TV portray.  Negotiators play a big role in helping to resolve situations peacefully.

Role of S.E.R.T. is to respond in the following situations:

• hostage
• barricade
• high risk search or arrest warrant
• dignitary protection
• high risk incidents in the detention facility
• disturbance or crowd control
• JCSO assisted in Lawrence Monday night after the championship basketball game
• a total of 250 officers from Lawrence and neighboring agencies including JCSO were tasked with controlling a crowd of nearly 30,000. 
• 20 arrests were made (mostly for disorderly conduct)
• scene was quiet compared to the madness in Kentucky
• S.E.R.T. can also assist with Emergency Management
• JCSO sent deputies to Harveyville, KS after the recent tornado to assist with securing a perimeter to prevent looting

S.E.R.T. consists of (2) 10 person teams (deputies on the team are called operators).  One team is on call 24/7 to respond as needed.  The S.E.R.T. team also consists of a commander, an assistant commander, a team leader, 2 squad leaders, 4 snipers, 1 sniper coordinator, 6 negotiators and 6 logistics staff.  Deputies must go through an application/interview process to be placed on the S.E.R.T. team.  Deputies must be physically and mentally fit to be on this team.  Sgt. Moore and Lt. Hill emphasized that deputies on the S.E.R.T. team must have a level of "maturity" to be a successful member of the team.  S.E.R.T. deputies receive additional training on top of their 40 hours of training required of all deputies.  Training may include SWAT specific training in-house or through specialized agencies.  Typically they will go through 16 hours of additional training monthly.  Currently there are no women on the S.E.R.T. team.  There have been women on it previously though and women are not excluded from the team just because of the physical components.  If they can complete the requirements, they can be on the team just as any male deputy can.


Field Tactics/Tactical Considerations:

Deputies will often work in pairs of 2 to serve warrants.  Can go out in uniform/marked cars or undercover depending on situation.  In some cases, letters are sent out prior to execution of warrant to give individual opportunity to surrender (these are generally low risk warrants such as misdemeanor). 

Forced entry may be made if probable cause, fresh pursuit or reasonable suspicion.  Safety for individual in question, public and for deputies is given priority over everything else!  Deputies would prefer to end a situation peacefully by communication rather than use force but must be prepared for anything and everything. 



Next week is introduction to the Civil Division and Court Security.  I am also scheduled for my first ride along soon and will add an entry for that.