IUPD cadets learn driving techniques

As new cadets in the IU Police Department Police Academy go through classroom instruction, they learn how to do everything by the books. Last week, however, IUPD united with the Bloomington Police Department and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department to give the cadets real-world experience and re-establish the basics for current officers.\nThe Emergency Vehicle Operations Course training exercise, was held at Memorial Stadium and lasted each day in sessions from 6 a.m. until 3 a.m. the following morning, according to an IUPD press release.\n The course was split into two training sessions, one a driving exercise in the stadium parking lot and the other involving traffic stops. \nOn the course in the parking lot, cadets and current officers brushed up on the basics of driving a police vehicle at high speeds, such as backing, braking and handling distractions in the car. \nThe training course was a large set of narrow lanes set up by cones, and cadets drove up to speeds of 50 to 55 miles per hour, said IUPD Lt. Tom Lee. It was the first time cadets drove the police vehicles, which were provided by the City of Bloomington, said BPD Training Coordinator Jim Witmer.\nOf all the things that can disrupt an officer in the car, technology is perhaps the biggest issue, Lee said. \n“In this day and age with all the new equipment, there are a lot of potential distractions,” he said.\nIn order to help combat these distractions in real situations, trainers in the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course distracted the drivers by doing things such as calling drivers’ cell phones while they were on the course. \nWitmer said it is just as important to train officers in driving techniques as it is to train them in physical tactics, because officers are in the car almost eight hours a day, putting them at a higher risk for accidents.\n“Officers are killed and seriously injured by automobiles nearly as much as by firearms,” he said. \nFirearms and other dangerous situations are a part of the job, however, and the training course prepared the cadets for this with the second part of the training in an exercise called “Strategies and Tactics of Patrol Stops,” or S.T.O.P.S. The exercise trained cadets in what is known as standard “verbal judo” and tactics for dealing with low- and high-risk traffic stops. “Verbal judo” includes training an officer how to handle someone when making a traffic stop, all while trying to keep the tension to a minimum, said IUPD Capt. of Operations Keith Cash. \n“We wouldn’t expect you to be happy about being pulled over, so we want to make the stop as pleasant as possible,” he said.\nThe training also included how to handle higher-risk situations, such as if a stop is made after an armed robbery or another dangerous situation.The cadets went through tactics, what to say, who was responsible for certain situations and how to work as a team. \nIU Police Academy Cadet James Lerg was one of the 24 cadets involved in the training program. He explained why he is grateful for the opportunity to practice these scenarios.\n“You never know what you are going to run into,” Lerg said. “A lot of things can happen.”