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| Scott Buttery, a patrol lieutenant and firearms instructor for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, goes through a simulated training scenario that was coordinated by Southwestern Community College on Thursday, March 19, in Sylva. |
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| Scott Buttery, a patrol lieutenant and firearms instructor for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, aims his modified Taser at a subject projected on a screen while undergoing a simulated training scenario that was coordinated by Southwestern Community College on Thursday, March 19, in Sylva. |
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| Curtis Dowdle, dean of public safety training for Southwestern Community College, goes through a simulated training scenario on Thursday, March 19, at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Sylva. |
“Keep your hands where I can see ‘em!”
Scott Buttery, a patrol lieutenant with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, repeated the order – but the individual who’d been breaking into a car wouldn’t comply. Instead, the suspect reached into his back pocket then swung his right arm forward.
Before less-seasoned onlookers could determine whether the item in the suspect’s hand was a weapon or something less ominous, Buttery fired his weapon. Had the officer waited an instant later, the subject would have pulled the trigger on his own pistol.
Fortunately, the perpetrator was an actor projected onto a screen. The pistol was a modified Glock with no live ammo. The entire 20-second scenario was part of a “use of force” training session arranged by Southwestern Community College on Thursday, March 19, in a training room of the sheriff’s office.
The need to keep law enforcement professionals’ reflexes and discernment sharp is quite real, though, which is why Sheriff Chip Hall contracted with SCC to provide this onsite training from March 19-27.
“Anytime you have training like this, it makes our officers more aware in the field,” Hall said. “When you’re better prepared, you’re better equipped for any situation that may arise. That’s why this training and keeping our officers up-to-date is important to me. This way, our officers are able to go home at the end of their shifts, and our citizens are well-served.”
While marksmanship and timing are key components of the simulator training, it also helps law enforcement professionals determine which level of force is appropriate in a given situation. Buttery went through a separate scenario where he elected to use a Taser for subduing an agitated, chain-wielding subject.
After successfully completing three separate scenarios, Buttery acknowledged he’s well aware that incidents in places like Ferguson, Mo., and Madison, Wis., have whipped up many questions about whether law enforcement officers sometimes use excessive force.
“What people don’t understand is that we have microseconds to make a decision that everyone else has a lifetime to analyze,” said Buttery, who also serves as the department’s firearms instructor in addition to being a part-time instructor for SCC.
Helping law enforcement officials like Buttery to make the best choices possible is the primary objective of SCC’s Curtis Dowdle and Matt Reynolds, who coordinated the training in Sylva.
The simulator Dowdle and Reynolds demonstrated Thursday can generate multiple variations of the same scene so that the same suspect who pulled a gun on Buttery might produce a wallet to the next officer who undergoes the same training.
“When you’re out on a firing range, we can help improve your aim so that you are hitting the target as close to the center mass as possible,” said Dowdle, dean of SCC’s public safety training. “But when you come into this room and go through some of these different scenarios, you’re working on even more skills. It’s crucial for these officers to have an opportunity to enhance their judgment and reflexes so that when they’re out in the field, they make the best possible decisions.”
For more information about SCC’s Public Safety Training Center, call 828.306.7041 or visitwww.southwesterncc.edu/pstc.
