Local police departments offer variety of specialties

Local police departments are constantly training to ensure the public is kept safe. Many local departments have officers trained in a variety of specialties to ensure maximum safety measures are in place.

In Washington, Police Chief Jim Lester said the department has instructors certified in seven different specialties including K-9 handling, Taser and standardized field sobriety testing (SFST). Officers are also trained in 15 other specialty areas including certified sniper/spotter and crime scene photography.

With 11 full time officers on staff, Lester said it is 'not very common” to have so many specialties and officers trained in them.

'We're fortunate that we have the officers that are specially trained to do those things. A lot of departments our size may have one or two guys that do some of that but they don't have the wide variety of specialties that we have,” he said.

One unique specialty Washington has is the SWAT team, lead by Officer Jason Chalupa. According to the 2019 police department annual report, the team trained for 11 days, a total of 48 hours, and had one deployment in 2019.

Chalupa said there are currently seven officers involved and it is all voluntary. An eighth member is being considered, he said, and the team can have an infinite amount, as long as the patrol shifts are still covered.

During training, Chalupa said different skills are taught and polished to ensure team members are ready in case of an emergency.

'Typically when it works best with our schedules we will have all the guys get together and for that training day we will cover different topics each month,” he said.

The learned skills can vary from tactical medicine where officers will learn how to treat gunshot wounds to high risk warrant service where they will train inside an empty house.

'It changes each month because there are a variety of skills that each of the guys need to know,” he said.

The SWAT team does not see an abundance of action, he said, but can be used in a variety of situations, especially those that are high-risk such as a search warrant, fugitive apprehension and event security for dignitary protection.

'When presidential candidates come to town we use team members for security,” he said.

The Fairfield Police Department also has a SWAT team as well as bike patrol and a K-9 officer, according to the departments website. As law enforcement officers, Lester said they all must have at least 12 hours every year of continued education in a variety of training areas.

'Some of those are mandated. We have to have blood born pathogens, haz-mat, hazard communication, mental health awareness and things like that. Every two years we have to have our CPR and AED (training) and every three years a refresher on mandatory reporting for child and dependent adult abuse,” he said.

Trainings can be done in person and online, depending on the specialty. Lester said for those who have a specialty, many of them have to go to training.

Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Lyle Murray said the department has 14 full time officers, one of whom will graduate from the police academy April 1. Among them there are three sergeants, a lieutenant and K-9 officer. There is a place for an investigator, he said but one has not been hired yet.

'We encourage people to handle as many investigations as they can on their own but if they need help to ask for it. The only way they're going to get better is going to work on those bigger cases. We have some guys that are very interested in drug investigations and they do a fantastic job and we kind of let them run with it and use that as needed,” he said.

Trainings happen throughout the year in the forms of conferences, he said. Everything from search warrant writing to narcotics investigations are taught.

Monthly, the Mt. Pleasant officers meet at the station for training, he said, to complete the mandatory trainings set out by the state. Domestic violence training and OWI trainings are not required but are often incorporated as well.

'Sometimes it's hard to do four hours of domestic violence training so we'll have two to four hours of training every month to give people a break,” he said.

Training for unknown situations can be difficult, especially when the subject matter is heavy, but Murray said getting officers into a training mind-set and brushing up on skills can only be a benefit to both the department and the residents.

'You ought to prepare for everything and if you don't keep up with it, you get a little lax. That's not good for our officers and it's not good for the public so we want to be efficient and proficient as we can be in all areas,” he said.