LIMA — Bath High School soon-to-be senior Bailey Cotrell is just starting his summer vacation but he already has something big to talk about when he returns to school.
Cotrell is spending two weeks this summer learning about the job of a police officer. On Tuesday, he was learning self-defense tactics as well as finding out how hard it was to handcuff someone who did not want to be taken into custody.
Cotrell also learned bike riding skills including trying some himself as did the other 73 students who are participating this week in the student police academy held at Lima Senior High School and Rhodes State College.
Lima Police Department Patrol Officer Nate Garlock helped organized the academy that runs eight hours a day over two weeks. It’s free to children thanks to donations from a handful of local businesses. Incoming high school freshmen to seniors who just graduated may participate, he said.
Every high school in Allen County has at least one student participating and Lima Senior leads the way with 25, he said.
While the academy may lead some children to pursue a career in police work after high school, Garlock said that would be great but is not his No. 1 goal. He wants to establish relationships with children and get them to understand police work, including why an officer does something a specific way. Putting them through scenarios officers frequently face helps drive that point home, he said.
“They start to see it’s not as easy as it may seem or when people question police and say why didn’t they just do this,” Garlock said. “This is a way to show kids and some of the young adults things are not always as they seem. They can see it in a different light.”
With Garlock playing a bad guy, each student tried to get Garlock’s hands behind his back and none were able. Students also will be put through a firearms training simulator with scenarios playing out on a screen similar to a video game. They sometimes will have a split second to react such as when a bad guy pulls a gun on them.
“Through some of the scenarios you put them through they can see it and now it makes sense to them,” he said.
Cotrell said he often sees videos of police work played on social media but after attending the academy realizes some scenarios have a lot more to the story than was shown in a quick video clip.
Students will go to Crosshairs Lima to participate in firearms training using paintball guns. Officers will show them how to clear a building, a frequent task, and there will be drills against bad guys where students and the bad guys use paintball guns.
One of the most popular events is expected to be the crime scene investigation lesson as well as detective work. Students will be taught how to process a crime scene then handle a mock scene. They will take pictures and collect evidence, Garlock said.
“It’s fun, it’s interactive. We will be showing them some of the things we do on a daily basis,” Garlock said.
Police officers also will put the children in pretend scenarios that will get across the fear and unknown that sometimes comes with police work such as during traffic stops or when someone unsuspectingly pulls a knife, Garlock said.
While some situations immediately can put officers in a hypervigilant state, which the children will see, officers also will teach them how to deescalate a situation, if that is possible, Garlock said.
This is the second year for the program and much of it has been tweaked to make it better and get the children involved especially because they just finished the school year and probably do not want to be sitting in a classroom for two weeks over summer break listening to someone talk, Garlock said.
Cotrell participated in last year’s student academy and said he has already noticed the change and was enjoying the experience this year.
“I think the program this year is better because it’s more hands on. Last year it was more sitting in a classroom and they told you about it,” he said.
Cotrell has one year left in high school but is already aiming at a career as a police officer. He plans to attend Rhodes State College after he graduates to pursue a career as a police officer.
“My grandfather is a retired police officer. I’m interested in the field he was in,” Cotrell said.
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