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From 911 calls to angry suspects, Mooresville officers handle it all
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Published: October 23, 2008
During the last two weeks, Mooresville residents have been working closely with the Mooresville police officers, learning firsthand what goes into their often challenging job.
To give readers a better understanding as well, the Navigator has been sitting in on classes for the Mooresville Citizen's Police Academy. Here's what we've learned so far:
Getting in gear
To get things started, the students learned about the responsibilities of patrol officers.
"Patrol operations are the backbone of the department," said Maj. P.T. Hilliard. "The majority of our officers will be in the patrol department. We have four shifts, and each has a supervisory captain and an assistant lieutenant."
While the weight of responsibility is heavy for an officer, so is his or her gear.
"The average total weight is about nine pounds, but it could be even more, depending on whether there is a flashlight or not," said Officer Rhonda Faust.
"New officers will learn this, because I know I did, but the first two weeks of patrol duty, your hips will hurt," added Capt. John Brammer. "I think everyone can attest to that."
An officer's belt typically holds a Glock handgun, an extra magazine, handcuffs, an asp baton, a taser, a radio and pepper spray. Officers also wear a 3.5-pound bullet-proof vest that felt much heavier.
Catching speeders
Capt. Clayton Flemming, the MPD's certified instructor for radar, said teaching officers to use the equipment properly can be difficult.
"It's a very stressful course," he explained. "The class is 40 hours and officers must learn to listen to the Doppler tones given off by the radar. The beam on the radar is 186,000 miles per second and can be used to track drivers coming towards us, away from us and in the same lane in front or behind us."
At the end of the course, trainees must be able to correctly determine the speed of cars by simply listening.
"You start with a visual estimate and then you use the radar to corroborate your opinion," Capt. Frank Falzone said. "Once the radar locks onto the car, that's when you take action."
It sounded simple enough, but the class soon realized it was far from easy. The radar doesn't just track one car at a time, meaning officers have to determine which tone goes with which car. Flemming allowed each class member to try their luck and guess the speed of oncoming cars by sitting us in a car and giving us a quick briefing on the tones. Faust sped past in her undercover car so we could hear what the distinct tone of 55 mph sounded like over a slew of cars traveling 35 mph in front of the department.
Once in the car, it was a little startling to hear the high-pitched screeching of the Doppler, but after a while, you could start to decipher the sounds.
Tasers
The class also learned about tasers, which officers can use to protect themselves from an assault.
"The propelled wires conduct energy that affects the central nervous system," Falzone said. "The signal causes a disruption in the body and incapacitates the person. It is the most effective non-lethal device. It does not affect your heart rate or breathing, and it's really effective to get people into custody quickly."
Falzone said Taser use has helped the rate of worker's comp claims for officers because there are fewer injuries on the job.
"Assaults on officers are down, because most people have seen what a taser is capable of and know not to fight so we have to use it," Falzone said.
A video demonstration illustrated his point, showing a 300-pound man go down like a sack of potatoes after a jolt.
Working dispatch
Police dispatchers often have to multi-task to stay on top of any situation, said Shane Teeter, MPD senior telecommunicator.
"We have to try to keep up with the bad guys and find out how to bypass what they're doing," he said.
After a brief history on communications throughout the ages and how 9-1-1 evolved, Teeter asked everyone in the class to close their eyes and played a real call to demonstrate what a dispatcher hears when a panicked child calls in, screaming hysterically.
A young girl was trying to explain an abuse case, but between the screaming and the crying, it was very difficult to understand what she was saying — a situation dispatchers often face.
"We have to have the ability to simply listen without being able to see and act promptly," Teeter said. "We have to respond to the need, not the behavior, while speaking with brevity."
Teeter explained that dispatchers have to learn to leave the situations they encounter at work.
"You can't take it home with you, you have to let it go or you won't be able to do this job for very long," he said. "We can't save the world, we can just do our part."
Class participant Terry Devine manned two phones, a radio and a computer for a simulation, juggling officers' calls.
"That was hard!" he exclaimed after the exercise was finished.
"The officers are the quarterbacks in these situations, but we have to get our rears in gear and get the information to them," Teeter said.
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