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Sep 30, 2007 11:35 am US/Central
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WCCO-TV Crime Reporter Goes Through Cop Training
by Caroline Lowe
(WCCO)
WCCO-TV crime reporter Caroline Lowe recently finished walking the beat as an officer at the Minnesota State Fair. It was the fifth year Lowe has taken an unpaid leave of absence from her day job to work the fair.
To qualify to receive a Minnesota police officer's license, Lowe had to go through the same skills training and college classes every other officer in this state must pass.
One of Lowe's reports on her training in 2001 focused on the toughest decisions an officer may face on the street: when to use deadly force.Gunfire rang out on a summer afternoon in Columbia Heights, horrified neighbors ducked for cover. Three officers were shot in a running gun battle, the shooter also wounded.
In Edina, a robbery call turned into a gun fight. A heavily armed suspect shots an officer and another officer was injured. The bad guy was killed.
Being a cop means being ready to make split second decisions when to shoot or, perhaps more importantly, when not to shoot. It can mean facing a 12-year-old child with his gun pointed at you. They're all tough choices that can change so many lives in an instant.
"There isn't a cop out there that dreads the day he or she is going to actually have to use that weapon to take someone's life," said Dave Rasmussen, a firearms instructor.
If a cop hestitates, it could cost them their life. If they shoot too soon, they could hit an innocent person.
The shootings in Columbia Heights and Edina were chilling, real-life reminders of the dangers of police work.
For eight weeks, Lowe put down her microphone and picked up a gun. She and 46 classmates learned the basics of police work at the Center for Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement. Firearms training is one of the most important lessons for a trainee. If they fail, they can't become a cop.
Before cops are ready to make critical decisions on the street, they must be confident of their ability to handle a gun. The first step: Learning the basics of shooting at an indoor pistol range in Burnsville.
Rasmussen, the lead firearms instructor, has trained officers all over the Twin Cities.
"There really is no magic to shooting, it's the fundamentals and mastering the fundamentals and basics," he said.
Some of the classmates had used guns in the military or hunting, but many had never fired a gun before.
"The biggest challenge for us is to get them mentally into that mode, get them past their anxieties and past their fears," said Rasmussen.
For Lowe, learning how to shoot was one of the most stressful experiences at cop school. At first, even the most basic mechanics of handling a gun were a challenge.
"She was thinking too much, perhaps. A lot of people are very analytical and sometimes it's a matter of getting it down to the basics," Rasmussen said at the time.
Some days, Lowe would leave the range doubting she would ever get good enough with that key part of training. If she didn't, it would mean a very public failure.
"It didn't come easily for her. And we sat down and talked and we went over some things she needed to do," Rasmussen said.
The progress was painfully slow. She would return to the range on nights and weekends on her own time to practice.
"That was very important thing for her to do, was to make that decision that she was going to work at it and she didn't give up," said her instructor.
The students learned most gun battles are very close and quick. They can happen less than 10 feet apart and last just three seconds.
After training, the next step was to get ready for the streets, and practice dangerous scenarios. They carried plastic guns the same size and weight as the Smith and Wessons cops carry on the street.
They would search cars and dark buildings. A bad guy with a gun could be behind any corner or beneath any car.
Along with learning how to shoot, it was important to learn how not to get shot. It's crucial to find the right cover.
One summer in North Minneapolis was a real life lesson of cops doing it the right way near a suspect's house when officers crouch behind their squad's engines to protect themselves against bullets from potential shooters.
Another facet of training was gun safety. They must always keep their fingers off the trigger until ready to shoot to avoid accidentally shooting someone. Cop trainees need to be sure what's behind an armed suspect to avoid hitting an innocent person who may be in the background.
At the pistol range the firearms training ends. Everyone in Lowe's group shot enough holes inside the white lines of the human shaped target to pass. For Lowe, it was a powerful life lesson about never giving up.
For her classmates, it was also so much more. While Lowe returned to her life as a crime reporter, many will soon hit the streets as officers, facing split second decisions of when to shoot or not shoot.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)