Reporters get a taste of law enforcement at York Co. sheriff’s media academy

Most all of us played some version of cops and robbers as kids.

You chased after the bad guy with your toy gun – or just used your thumb and index finger to pretend – locked him up and proudly wore that little plastic badge.

On Thursday, I was one of several local reporters who traded their notepads and cameras for body armor and a training gun for the York County Sheriff’s Office Media Police Academy.

This wasn’t a game, though. The goal was for us to learn basic policing skills and understand the thought and decision-making processes an officer goes through, and then carry that understanding into our reporting on the criminal justice system.

“Everything we see isn’t always cut-and-dried,” said Sgt. Josh Solomon, a training instructor for the Sheriff’s Office. “In law enforcement, there’s so many variables to everything, whether it’s a traffic stop or me talking to you about your neighbor’s dog barking.”

Solomon began by explaining use-of-force techniques. It took us two or three minutes to determine how many lethal weapons Solomon had on him. But in a real scenario, he said, an officer usually has just two or three seconds to make that determination.

Using stories such as the shooting deaths of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland and 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., we discussed officer-involved shootings and the questions an officer must answer – quickly – to determine if he or she is facing a lethal situation: Does the subject have a weapon that you can see? What kind of weapon is it? How close are they to you? Do they attempt to grab your weapon? Are they verbalizing intent to harm you?

The answers to those questions help an officer determine if a stun gun, pepper spray or handgun is a more appropriate response. Solomon emphasized there was no “one size fits all” answer, and that criminal tactics, such as painting the tip of a gun orange to make it look like a toy, can further complicate decision making.

We took the exercise outside, where two cars were set up to simulate a traffic stop. The officers demonstrated the correct way to approach a car: Look at the inside of the vehicle to see how many passengers are inside and what they’re doing; put your hand on the trunk as you pass to make sure it’s closed; keep your hand on your gun; scan the inside of the car as you talk with the driver. If the driver starts to get out of the car, order them to get back in. If they get out and refuse to get back in, escort them away from the roadway before continuing the stop.

One by one, each reporter got out of the patrol car and approached the car. Deputy Yaki Cobb played the driver, who was sometimes accompanied by his passenger, Deputy Justin Baxley. The scenarios started with a speeding incident but gradually became more difficult.

When I approached the car, Cobb and Baxley had the radio turned up loud and refused to turn it down. Baxley, playing an obnoxious drunken passenger, cursed loudly and made derogatory comments about police. I wrote Cobb a warning for speeding and sent them on their way. But before I could get back to the patrol car, Baxley got out of the car yelling and stormed toward me pointing a gun. I wasn’t able to get my training gun out of the holster before he started “shooting.” Had that been the real thing, I’d be dead.

Another reporter chased Cobb when he got out of the car and took off running, but unknown to her, an armed Baxley got out and started shooting at her.

“There’s nothing cut and dried – he’s not giving me his license, so that means I must do this, this or this,” Solomon said. “There’s no flow chart. There is a right way and a whole bunch of wrong ways, and you just try to find a less wrong way to do it.”

Kim Morehouse, a crime prevention officer for the Sheriff’s Office, explained that while some of an officer’s actions during a traffic stop may be interpreted by a motorist as mean or bossy, it’s all to keep both the officer and the motorist safe.

Another exercise used a video projector and handgun with a CO2 cartridge to let officers practice verbal commands and determine when – or when not to – use their Taser or handgun. My scenario consisted of red circles that appeared on screen, randomly and in rapid succession; each circle showed a weapon, from a knife or baseball bat to a handgun or shotgun. I was supposed to shoot them in order of threat level, with the most threatening first. It went well until, in the rush of adrenaline, I shot the circle showing two empty hands raised.

“He clearly wasn’t holding a weapon,” Solomon said. “That’s how fast you really have to make all those decisions we’ve talked about.”

I’ve been a crime reporter for nearly five years, and Thursday’s academy was eye-opening. It’s easy to view footage of a police response to an incident and “Monday morning quarterback” it, especially when hindsight is 20/20. But until you see that incident through an officer’s eyes and weigh life-or-death decisions in a matter of seconds, it’s not possible to understand or appreciate what goes into making those decisions.

Fortunately, for the half-dozen or so reporters Thursday, the guns were fake, the bullets were imaginary and the “criminals” were trained officers putting on an act. While I may not have a future in law enforcement, I do have a better understanding and appreciation of what happens when the make-believe becomes reality.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Reporters get a taste of law enforcement at York Co. sheriff’s media academy."