Over the course of the academy, much of the cadets’ education is about the realities of police work as much as practiced skills and learning the Ohio Revised Code. Classes are taught by area police chiefs and officers both current and retired.
The six-month course at Sinclair is one of several across Ohio certified by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission to provide the necessary training for someone to become a licensed law enforcement officer in Ohio.
The cadets underwent training on everything from Ohio Revised Code, to report writing, traffic control, interrogations, courtroom conduct, deaf communication, and using drones and patrol rifles. Cadets were also trained on how to use pepper spray and Tasers (and be on the receiving end of both).
The Behind the Badge series concluded Sunday with a reflection from London on what she learned through the project, and a look at the future of police training.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from London’s “Behind the Badge” experience.
How to shoot like a cop
Over the course of three weeks at the shooting range, the 19 cadets shot about $6,000 worth of ammunition.
Cadets are taught to be aware of the backstop of what they’re shooting at, and beyond. For example, if you’re aiming at a target and your backstop is drywall, you have to consider what could be behind the drywall: The bullet will not stop there.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
By the end of the first day, cadet Sam Niyomurezi said he knew what he had to work on, but was much more confident than the first time he shot.
“When I pulled that trigger for the first time I was scared. The second time I just started relaxing and then take it easy on myself. Doing it for the first time, it was also a cool experience,” he said.
By the end of the three weeks of range, cadets are able to move and shoot accurately, up to 30 feet. The very last day, the class competes to see who can be Top Gun in handgun and shotgun.
Crisis intervention
On the surface, the classroom curriculum for crisis intervention at Sinclair Police Academy seems pretty straightforward: use active listening skills, ask open-ended questions, secure any weapons and evaluate the situation.
In reality, the first time you walk up on someone with the barrel of a gun in their mouth (even if the gun is blue and obviously fake), any intellectual understanding of the classroom work goes straight out the window.
The Sinclair Police Academy includes 24 hours of crisis intervention training, half of which is classroom time and half of which is practical applications.
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Credit: Marshall Gorby
In other words, the training is 50% what to do or say when encountering a manic, suicidal or hallucinating person; and 50% being able to remember any of it when your heart rate is up and your palms are sweaty.
When called to a home and dealing with a domestic dispute, The job is to break it up, calm them down, and solve the problem.
Cadets train for this using actors to simulate a variety of scenarios.
Getting a taste of pepper spray
The actual name for what we call “pepper spray” is OC spray. OC stands for Oleoresin Capsicum, and the major ingredient is cayenne pepper, 10,000 times the strength of what you use to make dinner.
Most police departments require that officers be subject to OC spray, and TASERs before carrying those tools. If not done in the academy, that training will be done by their individual departments.
Our reporter London Bishop described her experience.
“It feels like getting a sunburn, and then standing in front of an open oven, if the oven was on the inside of your eyeballs and set at 450 degrees,” she said.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Whether or not the use of OC spray is reasonable depends a lot on the scenario: if a crime has been committed, what crime, what the officer needs the subject to do and how quickly, etc.
“If this academy is making you take a taste of this, they want you to respect it,” Instructor Wayne Dumolt said during the classroom portion.
“You’re putting someone in pain. Be reasonable about it,” he said.
RELATED: PHOTOS: Behind the Badge
When is use of force reasonable?
Sinclair Police Academy cadets are told officers have about ten seconds at the start of any encounter to set the tone for de-escalation.
Particularly in mental health encounters, the first few seconds are vital to ensure a situation doesn’t progress further than it needs to.
“You learn the gift of gab, because you’re tired of getting your butt kicked,” said instructor Randy Warren.
However, on the street, instructors warn situations can go from zero to 100 in an instant, so certain responses must be trained to be second nature.
In sessions spread throughout the six-month academy, cadets spread out mats in the small PT room, and spend the day throwing, shoving, tackling, pushing, grappling and striking each other.
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Officers are also trained to shout commands the entire time, like “stop resisting; get back; drop your weapon.”
This emphasizes that the officer isn’t using force to beat someone up, but to gain compliance. And it reinforces that the use of force ceases once compliance is gained.
Cadets are required to take 70 hours of subject control techniques, eight hours of impact weapons, such as a baton or asp, and three weeks of range time with various firearms, including pistol, shotgun, and patrol rifle.
Searching and detaining
Arrest, search and seizure are among the most fundamental powers and responsibilities of law enforcement.
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement, and establishes that police officers must have probable cause to get a warrant, and that the warrant must be specific about what is being searched and seized.
The “reasonable” part is key. Constitutionally, police have a right to detain a person for a brief investigation on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
A person is “seized” when in light of all circumstances, a reasonable person would believe that the person was not free to leave.
“The Fourth Amendment is probably the most important you’ll deal with,” said Sinclair Police Academy instructor Randy Warren, who is also retired from the Dayton Police Department. “Be firm, be fair, be nice. We don’t judge anyone on anything other than conduct and behavior.”
Missing kids and human trafficking
If anyone takes away only one thing from this subject, instructor Randy Warren told cadets at the Sinclair Police Academy, it should be turning on the Amber Alerts on your phone.
Amber Alerts, the national system of alerting communities when children go missing, has very specific criteria for activation: there is a credible threat of serious harm or death to an abducted child, police have sufficient descriptive information to believe activating an alert will help, and — specific to Amber Alerts — the abduction was witnessed.
Time is of the essence in a missing child case. The 24 hour waiting period before a missing persons report is a myth, Warren said, adding “Minutes matter.”
Classes on missing persons and human trafficking are combined at the Sinclair Police Academy. Human trafficking has historically been a problem in Ohio, and law enforcement officers of all levels have to deal with the consequences.
In 2021, the most recent data available, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 291 cases of human trafficking in Ohio, with 424 victims.
Cadets learn the vast majority of traffickers know their victims well; many also know their victims’ families.
Links to the complete “Behind the Badge” project can be found HERE.
