Quiet Streets Call For Improvised Training

For GPD Senior Patrolman Josh Nolan it was a simple solution to a complex problem. What do you do when you have to train and evaluate a brand-new officer (Jonas Tommeson), but COVID-19 measures have reduced the overall number of incidents you are responding to? The answer: you create realistic scenarios, stick your trainee in the middle of them and don't tell him it is an exercise.

That is what Nolan did on the evening of April 18 on Glasgow's northside. He orchestrated a training exercise that involved two civilian volunteers, dispatch, the Valley County Sheriff's Office and the Glasgow Police Department. The scenario involved the two civilians simulating a domestic disturbance that led to the arrest of the fake boyfriend. Insert the trainee, closely monitor to prevent any escalations and then see how he did.

The training even offered a chance for the Sheriff's Office to inject their new deputy into this scenario as a backup. Deputy Anthony Slaughter also responded under the supervision of his field training officer (FTO) Jesse Vaughn. Slaughter assisted the GPD investigation by interviewing the "victim" and correlating the two stories during the course of the training.

For Tommeson, the training was an eye-opening experience that helped build his confidence after just a few weeks on the job. He denied being jaded by being left in the dark during the exercise but instead he took away a lot from the evening's events.

"I learned a lot," said the newly minted officer. "It was an amazing experience, I mean, the whole process, of course, going in thinking it was real."

Tommeson said he took away some areas for improvement such as understanding the steps of responding to a call, like the training presented. Specifically, he identified interviewing, asking worthwhile questions, being prepared and looking for answers while investigating the crime.

Nolan explained that the scenario took a lot of different elements to make the training feel real and get everyone on the same page to make the scenario work.

"It was so many people and having to relay the scenario to everyone, explain the scenario to everyone and make sure everyone was on the same page for an hour's worth of work, but it was a real one for him," said Nolan. "I want to say it's as close as you can get to real training, but it was real training for him."

Nolan acknowledged that putting a rookie officer in a situation like a domestic violence call came with risks, but they mitigated the risks with certain measures, like close monitoring by the field training officers and making sure the volunteer actors never presented themselves as threatening or violent.

Prior to the scenario, Nolan says they walked through partner-family member assaults, reviewed case files and actually discussed a scenario that matched nearly word for word with the real-world training before he put Tommeson in that situation.

"He went in there as prepared as possible," said Nolan. "It wasn't like we were just going to make fun of [him] the whole time." He added that he felt the new officer will do a pretty good job the next time they are called to an actual domestic disturbance on the streets.

For Tommeson this was the only training scenario he will face in his FTO training. Nolan explained that from here on out he wanted Tommeson to know that every call coming in would be real and that he needed to have that mind set.

That is not going to stop Nolan from presenting the scenario to future recruits however.

"I definitely want to do it again," he said.