We have a great working relationship with each media outlet in our region. As I watched and read news coverage of recent officer-involved shootings around the country, I thought local reporters would enjoy, and benefit from, taking part in simulations similar to what they’ve been reporting on.
Journalists from all four local TV stations and an online news outlet were put through a series of training scenarios. Three were in a virtual setting, while four were live-action with role players. Those individuals played a number of different roles. In one scenario, they were unharmed, but aggressive. In another scenario, they were mentally agitated and seeking the hospital. And, some simulations featured armed subjects intent on harming an officer unprovoked. All of the scenarios were based on actual calls to which our deputies have responded in recent years.
We wanted each journalist to get an inside look at how our deputies are trained to serve and interact with a variety of different types of people. We put a large emphasis on the training of our employees and understand one day is not comparable to a deputy’s training, but we wanted to show the difficulty of a split second decision while also balancing outside factors as well. We believe the few hours they spent in our training session yesterday will provide valuable context to them as they report on the next officer-involved shooting covered by their outlet.
We invite you to view the video above. Because of the high level of interest in this topic, more than 10 million people have viewed the video on our social media platforms and national media outlets.