Hammond Police Department Invites the Community to Experience Their Police Training Simulator

Hammond Police Department Invites the Community to Experience Their Police Training Simulator

They say the best way to learn about someone is to step into their shoes. The Hammond Police Department is inviting members of the community to participate in the exact same training the officers are going through.

Part of the training explores the ways in which Hammond Police can de-escalate a situation. The Hammond Police Department was thrilled to build the simulator into Hammond's annual police training. All 210 of Hammond's Officers will be trained in ways tailored to their experiences and what they have yet to experience.

"This is the closest training you get to real life without being in harm's way," said Hammond Police Chief John Doughty, "Verbal de-escalation is relatively new in police training, and we want our officers to be able to talk their way out of a dangerous situation. We would always rather have it go that way and keep everyone safe."

Lieutenant Steven Kellogg, the Training Coordinator for the Hammond Police Department, began the training by scrolling through hundreds of different situations on a laptop screen. Community members went through hostage situations, traffic stops, suicidal subject calls, and problems outside, in schools, or in workplaces. The simulator can handle a wide range of places and different kinds of calls.

Participants were shown the ways in which a situation can quickly escalate and given a chance to try their hand at de-escalating the situation.

Lt. Kellogg values creating an understanding between the police force and the community by teaching people about the lengths they go through to highly train their officers.

“We invite civilians into an event like this to give them a sneak peak into the everyday tough decisions that our law enforcement officers have to make every day. We want to show them on stress affects their decision making, and how split second decisions can change their lives or someone else life. I think the most beneficial part of this is just letting people peek into our lives for a few moments,” said Lt. Kellogg.

In the training, participants were handed a non-functioning but realistic firearm and sent into the simulator, where they would have to give orders, make split second decisions, and even choose to virtually fire their weapon if necessary.

In one situation, two people battle over a gun and both claim to be police officers. In another, a student is holding other students hostage in a school library with a knife. Each situation calls for each participant to rely on their instincts and decision-making skills.

The simulator is designed to recreate life or death, high-stress situations so that officers can learn how to react quickly and effectively to protect as many people as possible.

"We want our officers to experience a wide range of situations so that they're never experiencing them for the first time in the field. We want them to have already thought about it and know how to react," said Kellogg.

Each session ended with a discussion about why each person reacted to the situation the way they did, and how things could have gone differently. A dialogue opened between community and police. Everyone was able to ask questions and become very familiar with what a police officer might encounter on a daily basis.

“It went really well last night,” said Sergeant Scott Holbrook, head of the Community Affairs Unit for the Hammond Police Department. “We had really had good feedback and people enjoyed it and learned a lot. The two things we want to stress, and want people to learn from this class. The first thing is compliance to police orders, the second thing we want to show people is how quickly a situation can become dangerous and deadly, and that the officer has to make a split-second decision just based on what they know at that moment.

“I’m here today because I’m in charge of the Hessville Crime Watch, and I’m a big supporter of the police. They don’t get enough credit and support. I think we’ll all have more support upon being given the opportunity to walk in their shoes.” said Dave Innes, a Hammond Board of Works Laborer and head of the Hessville Crime Watch.

Sgt. Holbrook would like to invite the Hammond Community to an event on Wednesday, March 22nd at 7:00 p.m. The event is called Coffee with a Cop, and the Hammond Police would like to join the public for questions and conversation, and a chance to learn about each other.