I’m no Jack Bauer

There’s an understatement. I am nowhere close to touching the greatest hero our world has ever seen. Jack Bauer and his impeccable aim, lightning-quick decision-making skills and understanding that we don’t have much time, has kept our nation safe from terrorists for six seasons…er…years now.

I got the chance to test out my Jack Bauer skills with the Wilmore Police Department Thursday (yes, they gave ME a gun) in a series of virtual training exercises. Chief Steve Boven invited me to go out and go through the same training his officers were going through. I went to the lower Luce Center parking lot in Wilmore to a big trailer that housed the training facility. There were two rooms in this trailer, a small one in the back that had a bunch of monitors and other video equipment, and a larger one in the front with a giant projection screen. In that room there were two barricades in the middle, a strange-looking device on top of the screen and an unloaded glock pistol with a sensor on it. That is where I would go through the training.

The purpose of the exercises is to gain experience in high-pressure situations that involve a weapon. The trainer explained to me that I would go through several different scenarios that an officer might face, and he would brief me on each situation before it began. I was to talk to the people in the scenarios just as I would in a real-life situation, and their actions would change based on what I said to them. He told me that some people could be armed and may fire at me. If that happened, the device on top of the screen would shoot pellets at me, letting me know that I had been hit. If I shot at them, sensors would tell me if and where I hit the perps. Mind you, the extent of my experience with fighting crime involves dressing up as Batman for Halloween. With that, the trainer went to the back room to conduct the tests.

Scenario #1 — Broken-down car
I got a call about a suspicious-looking man whose car had broken down by the side of the road. When I got there, I saw the man working under the hood of the car and another man sitting in the driver’s seat coughing or choking — I couldn’t tell which. When I walked up, the man at the hood assured me that nothing was wrong, and I could be on my way. When I asked him what was up with the car, he became agitated and started to walk toward me. As I was about to tell him to stop, the man in the driver’s seat fell out of the car, coughing violently, now. The other man began walking closer, now yelling at me. I panicked. I yelled at him to back away. Just then, I was hit with pellets — the man on the ground had pulled a gun out from his jacket and fired three rounds. I was dead, and I hadn’t even drawn my weapon. Not a great start.

Scenario #2 — Possible drug deal in a parking lot
Well I had failed miserably in my first try; on to a more obviously hostile situation. I walked up to a car in a dimly-lit parking lot with three people standing by a car, two girls and a guy about 24 years old. One of the girls pointed at me, and the guy began launching profanities at me. I told him to put his hands on the hood of the car, and he reached into his pocket. I pointed my gun at him, yelling to get on the ground. I was now focused entirely on him. Big mistake. One of the girls drew an automatic weapon and shot at me. She hit me in the arm, but this time I was able to duck behind one of the barricades. The two girls ran away, and the guy went behind the car and fired at me. I reached up and fired back, but couldn’t get a clear shot. As I looked up the second time, I saw him appear and put two shots right into his chest — a perfect kill. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that he was in the process of surrendering when I shot him, which equals a big-time lawsuit. Bad decisions – 2, Tyler – 0

Scenario #3 — Domestic disturbance at a restaurant
At this point, I’m not feeling too great about my abilities as a police officer. I responded to my next call at a little diner where a man and woman were arguing at a table. I asked what the problem was, and they ignored me. After a particularly biting comment from the woman, the man pulled out a knife and slammed his hand down on the table. I pulled my gun and told him to drop the knife. He stood up, and a woman from the table next to his ran between me and the assailant. I was afraid he would lunge at the woman he was arguing with, but he was shaken by my weapon. After a brief argument, he put down the knife and backed away so I could arrest him. Finally, I had done something right. The trainer told me that it would have been a better idea to have the woman move away since she was the one in danger, but I wasn’t really hearing him. Nobody had been hurt, and I was happy.

Scenario #4 — Call for backup on a rural road
My next scenario had me respond to a call from another officer for backup out in the middle of nowhere. As I pulled up in my cruiser, I saw the other police car sitting abandoned and nothing but trees around me. I walked up to the driver’s door and saw the officer dead in the front seat. Immediately, I dove behind a barricade, knowing that whoever had shot him had the advantage. I drew my gun, pointing it toward the trees at no one in particular. All of a sudden, I saw movement, and a man dressed in camouflage pulled a gun and shot at me. He missed, and I was able to get a round off and hit him in the arm, knocking the gun out of his hand. He turned to run, and I put one more bullet into his hind end. I had bagged another one, this time a cop killer.

Scenario #5 — Shots fired in a middle school
Now, I’m walking with a little swagger until the trainer informed me that I was responding to a possible school shooting. We had strayed away from video game territory — this was a heavy situation. I began walking through the halls of the school, gun drawn and pointed in front of me. I saw kids running away from the direction I was headed screaming, faces streaked with tears. As I turned a corner, a student was dragging the bloody body of a child down the hallway. A teacher ran down a stairwell, carrying another student whom I didn’t know was dead or alive. I went into a large foyer area where about 10 kids were lying on the ground, covering their faces. From around another corner, a male student, probably a young teenager, was dragging a girl into the foyer with the other kids. That’s when I realized he was the shooter. I started to yell at him to let go of the girl, when all of a sudden he put a bullet into her head and turned toward the group of kids. I got three rounds off, one in his arm and two in his chest, killing him.

I have to tell you, that last scenario shook me up. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. When it was over, I turned and looked at the trainer, who just shrugged.

“You saved a bunch of kids from dying there,” he said, trying to encourage me.

“I didn’t save that girl,” I responded.

Thinking back to that situation, I’m not even sure I could have gotten a clean shot off with the girl in front of him, but I was so taken back by the realization that it was a kid shooting his classmates that I froze. That split-second cost that girl her life. As I put the gun down, sweating and going back over the scenario in my head, I realized what kind of job law enforcement really is. The only time I ever really see officers at work is when they are on the side of the road, lights flashing and writing a ticket.

So many people have an innate disdain for cops, but that’s because they’re the ones getting in trouble. Until you see the other side of the job, the side that can go from saving a life to costing one in a second’s hesitation, you can’t make a judgment on law enforcement as a profession. It could be your kids, or mine, that they are protecting.