The Set-up
The room was large and dark with charcoal gray soundproofing on the walls and ceiling. Immediately to the left, twelve chairs sat in three rows of four. To the right stood a high media desk holding a computer and some other technical equipment. Jason, a cop stood beside it.
A huge screen covered the far wall, and halfway down the room was a “tree” against the right wall and a “concrete block” wall against the left. We were told those were two things that could stop a bullet.
Four of us were about to experience various simulations of situations law enforcement personnel faced every day. This was called “Shoot/Don’t Shoot,” and we were going to have to make that determination.
The Questions
Prior to attending the Writers’ Police Academy, I was very critical of various news stories I heard where cops seemed to use extreme measures. I’d yell at the TV:
“Why don’t they just shoot him/her in the leg?”
“Why do they fire so many bullets? Isn’t one enough to stop him/her?”
Taking part in the “Shoot/Don’t Shoot” simulation would answer those questions.
The Lesson
All I was told by Jason who ran the program was what kind of call I was answering. I didn’t know who the suspect was, and often it was difficult to determine that.
The screen came alive with life-size people enacting a scene. I was given a gun that shot a laser, making the screen interactive. If I shot a suspect, that person would collapse.
Let me describe one of the scenarios that a man (I’ll call him Bill) in my group got:
You’re called to a complaint from a neighbor about a barking dog. That’s all the information you’re given. You don’t know if you’ll be heading to a family picnic or a drug deal.
You arrive on the scene where a fierce dog is barking at a scruffy man who’s cornered against the fence. You think maybe the scruffy looking guy was about to rob the house, so you’re concentrating on him and the crazed dog. The dog leaps up and attacks the man.
Suddenly a guy dressed like he should be grilling hot dogs or washing his SUV comes around the corner of the house and starts shooting at you. You fire back, but the guy never drops. The scenario ends.
When Jason asked Bill how many bullets he fired, Bill guessed about six. Jason, hit a button and the computer lit up the screen with red X’s where Bill’s bullets hit. He shot 18 times, but he never hit the shooter. Bill was dead according to that scenario.
The Paradigm Shift
The lessons I learned:
When your adrenaline is pumping, you act to defend yourself and may not even realize how many times you shot.
Shooting a criminal in the leg means he can still shoot you. Even wounding him/her in the arm doesn’t stop the possibility that you could be killed.
Accurately shooting a criminal in the arm or leg is almost impossible because of the size of the target and the person’s ability to move quickly.
There was always more than one person in a scene, and it was often impossible to know who the “bad guy” was. And it wasn’t always a guy. One shooter was a mother holding her baby.
Danger comes quickly, and things happen in a nanosecond. You hope years of training and muscle memory will lead you to good decisions.
I will never again judge a police officer’s actions based on a 15 second video clip, because I don’t know what came before or after that scene. Have some cops made bad decisions? Absolutely. Have some cops used brute force? Yes. Do all cops do this? No.
One of the instructors proudly informed us that in his thirty-one years of service, he only fired at someone once. The law enforcement personnel I met at the WPA conference were honorable men and women who truly only wish to serve and protect.
I’m still a peacenik, and I’m still uncomfortable around guns. But I am no longer quick to judge what happens in a situation where life and death decisions must be made in a nanosecond.