Citizen's Academy Week 6-Police Department

This week was our first week with the Police Department.

We met in Manitowoc at the Sheriff's Department-reason being is because the Sheriff's Department has a range and we would be shooting guns (insert *squee* here). I had contacted our "guy in charge" to see if we would be allowed to bring our own weapon or if we had to use the ones provided. I was told to bring it along and we'd find out...so I did. Of course, I was slightly embarassed because when I pulled it out of the case it was slightly rusty. Oops!

We started the evening by going over what we'd cover and then splitting into 2 groups. One group would be on the firing range and the other would be learning about DAAT (Defense And Arrest Tactics) and some of the equipment that the police use in their everyday work. Luckily, I was in the group who went to the firing range first.

At the firing range, we learned all about range and firearm safety as well as the rules regarding and when it's appropriate to use deadly force, according to the State of Wisconsin. And then came the fun stuff. :) There were 4 people in my group: 2 of us had shot guns before and 2 hadn't so we split ourselves up so that there would be one experienced in each group (though it didn't matter much since there was plenty of help). I shot a rather nice grouping, even if they were all to the left. We got our pictures taken with our targets and even got to take them home.

When we were done, we took a little break for water and cookies (another *squee*) and then switched groups. It wasn't so much of a learning experience for me to hear all about defense and arrest tactics, since we cover them at my job as well, but it was fun listening to the 23-year veteran tell "war" stories. We also got to use their "simunition" pistols (basically their duty weapon fashioned so that it will shoot a round that has a paint-tipped bullet) to take down a bad guy. That was pretty fun. :)

The night ended early, which was fine. Next week, it sounds like we'll be doing some different scenarios which should be rather fun.