My team includes Aaron Brennan, the La Jolla firefighter currently running for District 1 City Council, who said the program was recommended by a friend of his who found it \u201cpretty eye-opening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI work alongside SDPD all the time, but that\u2019s different because I\u2019m focused on my job,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cNow, I want to learn about theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although we knew we wouldn\u2019t get hurt, turning every sharp corner in the SWAT and K-9 stations \u2014 knowing that some threat was present but not knowing what it was \u2014 produced some surprisingly real anxiety. And that anxiety, we were told by SDPD training officer Ken Kries during orientation, is the last thing cops can afford to pay attention to when making split-second decisions about how to react.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Kries, there are 1,000 fatal shootings by officers in the U.S. every year, some of which are unfortunately avoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019re always working on that,\u201d Kries said. \u201cYou\u2019re able to make a super-sound judgement after the fact, which you can\u2019t do. A police officer judges in the moment they use force.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a point best hammered home during forced-option simulator training, when every trainee who volunteered decided to shoot at a male in a warehouse shown lunging toward them on a giant video screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat was that guy armed with?\u201d asked instructor Michael Belz. (The answer: nothing.) \u201cAnd what will the headline be tomorrow?\u201d Belz continued. (The answer: \u201cOfficer Shoots Unarmed Man.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back at the dangerous traffic stop, the bank-robbery suspect begins to exit his car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside SDPD enrollee Carol Rios and I already know what the suspect will do from watching the scenario play out with two trainees before us: He will start firing at us almost immediately \u2014 which is why I will not let him do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The suspect exits his vehicle \u2014 only the gun is pointed at his own head. What?!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rios and I yell at him to drop the gun, but the suspect does not comply. This is a tough call. Does this man deserve to die for threatening only himself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The use of force is justified, I decide. I yell \u201cbang-bang!\u201d while aiming at his torso, as previously instructed, and he goes down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My call was correct, says Levi Harbin, safety coordinator for the San Diego Regional Police Academy, who portrayed the bank-robbery suspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf someone is suicidal, they\u2019re also homicidal,\u201d Harbin explains, demonstrating by switching the target of his fake gun from his own head to mine in a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf they put the gun down, we\u2019ll talk to them, we\u2019ll get all the resources,\u201d Harbin says. \u201cBut at some point, you\u2019re going to have to address the person walking towards you with a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harbin says the point I chose, however, was inadvisably late. I let the suspect walk behind us, Harbin explains, where we lost the cover of our police car. (I hadn\u2019t noticed.) Also, I let him inch closer to us, increasing his odds of landing a fatal shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not easy as it looks on TV, is it?\u201d Harbin asks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0COREY LEVITAN The suspect has been engaged by my partner and me. In the white sedan stopped in front of us is a male who matches the description of someone who, we were informed, just robbed a bank with a loaded gun, from which he fired several rounds into the bank\u2019s ceiling. As my partner … <\/p>\n