Police departments hold hands-on training in Washington

WASHINGTON — Police officers from Washington, Clinton County, Fort Madison, Fairfield, and Washington County law enforcement agencies spent two days in training at the United Presbyterian Church last week, where they ran through exercises simulating “active attackers,” law enforcement lingo for anyone intentionally killing people in a populated area.

Participants used the church’s downstairs classrooms to replicate hostage negotiations, responses to an improvised explosive threat, procedures against a school shooter, and various other scenarios. Paintball-like pellets and blanks stood in for live ammunition as the officers tested their accuracy and trigger discipline under different circumstances.

Washington Police Chief Jim Lester said it was the city’s first time hosting such a training. With multiple officers in the lineup, he said the exercises were timely as gun violence grows more prevalent in American schools.

“We started setting up the training, and then the incident at Perry happened, and reinforced, ‘Yeah, we need to be doing this, we need to make sure our officers are prepared for those situations,’” Lester said. “Six of our twelve officers are attending this, we’re able to get half of our department trained, (so that) everybody’s current on it.”

Governor’s School Safety Bureau Training Specialist Jim Stover said the officers went through each drill several times over, working in teams to problem-solve their way through different situations.

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Those drills only began after more than a day of classroom training on the appropriate tactics.

“The best training is repetition,” Stover said. “We work on the procedures to arrive, and then enter, and then search for the subject … it’s kind of like how you learn to shoot a basketball or how you ride a bicycle.”

He said the shared practice helped ensure local officers were ready to coordinate with each other and nearby departments, if the need arises.

Also relevant is the location of the training. Iowa State Patrol Trooper Matt Costello, also present at UP Church for the day, said holding the training in participating communities helped officers get practice with those they’re mostly likely to work with at neighboring departments.

It also brings equipment and instructors into town, rather than leaving local police forces to pay for their own overnight trips to Des Moines.

“It’s extremely important for us to be in this community, training in their environment,” Costello said. “We are right here, in this community, training officers that are responding to their community with other agencies from this community. It builds the cohesiveness between all of the agencies to work together, if something were to happen.”

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Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com