Helping The Recruits

In early May our new trooper recruits were about five weeks into their training and were tackling Officer Safety Week.

This is the week where they practice some higher risk situations and play out traffic scenarios on the training track.  For the last few years dispatchers have been allowed to assist with this special assignment the Mobile Command Center is set up for us to dispatch for the recruits.  While I enjoy learning more about the MCC and laughing at the funny things new recruits say on the radio, I was also able to be a role player on the track.

Since I had an hour to kill before my time slot for driving on the track opened up, I hopped into the car with my coworker Shauna.  Shauna is a pro at helping with scenarios and riding with her and playing along was hard to keep a straight face.  She really gets into her character and enjoys playing around with the recruits.

During our traffic stop, I was “arrested” and Shauna caught a few photos of it in action.

 

Once it was my time slot to drive a vehicle, we were given instructions to tone it down a bit and focus on more routine type traffic stops.  I played the “motorist assist role” often and pretended to have a flat tire or that my vehicle had broke down.

I was pulled over twice, once I used the excuse I was using my new cell phone to try to make a call, but not texting as it is now illegal in Idaho, and once I was pretending I was tired crossing over the fog line.  While the first recruit gives me a warning the second recruit cited me for failing to maintain my lines.

 

It was lots of fun that I plan to participate in again!