"But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you ... it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." - Dalai Lama

 

And that’s exactly what three members of the City of Becker were able to do when they arrived at Keeprs in St. Cloud last week.

 

Becker Police Chief Brent Baloun organized a firearm simulation training exercise for city council and any staff members interested in learning a little bit more about what police officers deal with on a daily basis.

 

Lori Keller, Adam Oliver and Greg Pruszinske volunteered to partake in a projected imitation of real-life police situations designed to assess people’s reactions and responses to circumstances that commence innocently but lead quickly to a dangerous situation.

 

“The purpose of this training was to get staff and council to attain a better understanding of what we experience on our jobs,” said Baloun.

 

Baloun was on hand along with Sergeant Jason Lawson to instruct and give advice. Greg Klinefelter of Keeprs ran the simulation.

 

With the growing disillusion of police officer behavior due to shootings of some unarmed civilians nationwide, Baloun wanted to “open their eyes” to the truths about what officers have to deal with, what they have to think about and how they can protect the public as well as themselves in threatening situations.

 

“We have to make decisions very quick, very fluid and we have to react,” said the chief.

 

The first scenario Keller, Pruszinske and Oliver were to go through last Thursday at Keeprs included a situation where the camera acts as the arriving police officer and you are approached by a neighbor who says it’s a man and a woman arguing in their home.

 

On a barrel in front of Keller, Pruszinske and Oliver was a (fake) handgun and a (fake) tazer. Each person was in the room alone (while the others waited outside) without the others knowing the upcoming scenario.

 

As the camera walks up the homeowner’s driveway, the voices arguing become clearer and louder and it appears the door is ajar. The camera proceeds to enter the home and walk down a hallway to where the voices are heard.

 

From around the corner, the camera notices a woman posturing and yelling to a yet unseen individual to the right. Rounding the corner, the other party is seated holding a shotgun between his legs. He looks up and within a fraction of a second, fires the weapon at the camera.

 

Keller was the first to go and she made observations as she (camera) made the approach to the house. Keller even grabbed for the gun (a CO2 charged Glock) when she saw the man with the shotgun. However, she was not quick enough to hit her target before the blast from the threat had exploded in her direction.

 

Oliver went next and he suffered the same fate as the perpetrator got off a round before Oliver could discharge his weapon.

 

Much the same for Pruszinske, who barely got the gun to his hand before the loud boom of the gun reverberated throughout the tiny room.

 

In the second scenario, the camera acted as a second officer who arrived at a scene where a car was disabled on the side of the road. One man was seen standing by the car and the driving officer entered the scene.

 

Before any of the three Becker participants could react, the perpetrator had gunned down the first officer and had the gun pointed the them (camera).

 

Keller was quick to draw her gun but fired her shots “post-mortem” after the villain had fired at her.

 

Oliver had better luck this time and was able to down the perp with two shots, even though the criminal had fired also.

 

Pruszinske had a better experience drawing the weapon on the perp, but the CO2 cartridge failed to fire the gun and he was taken down by the offender.

 

Keller said the experience amazed her.

 

“What really came to light for me is how quickly things happened,” she said. “During the domestic dispute, it must have been only two or three seconds after I saw the guy with the shotgun before he aimed it at me and shot, and I was dead.”

 

She said she was shocked at how quickly the simulation started and then all of sudden, she was done.

 

“What was really weird was I could almost feel the gunshot wound in my gut during the simulation,” Keller said.    

 

“I did miss the criminal,” said Pruszinske. “But I also have a better awareness of how quickly an officer may have to make a life altering decision. The exercise confirmed that our practice of providing our people with good equipment to perform their job should continue.”

 

Oliver said he was excited and nervous going into the simulation and wish he had verbalized more during the exercise.

 

“I've seen how an officer's ‘command voice’ can help control a situation and defuse it, and I did a poor job at using my voice to take control,” he said. “It was also interesting to note that even though I had a taser and a pistol side-by-side, I chose the deadlier option in each scenario.”

 

Keller, Oliver and Pruszinske are all advocates for this kind of training for police officers and feel their experience doing so opened their eyes, just like Baloun was hoping it would do.

 

“It’s a great training tool. It could also be used for screening new applicants,” said Pruszinske. “Pretty excited going in but also really inexperienced using a simulator.”

“As a council member, given the events of the past year in our nation, I was nervous about how I would react when I ‘saw the elephant’, even in a simulation,” said Oliver.

 

“I was excited because so far as I know, very few elected official in the state have taken the time to go through an exercise such as the one we did, which would make those of us that participated 100% more knowledgeable in practical simulations of officers' use of deadly force then the vast majority of Minnesota politicians.”   

 

Keller appreciated the instruction beforehand and the video replay after where the instructor gave comments and constructive criticism.

 

 “I learned so much, mostly from the conversations we had during the slow motion replay and talking through all the steps of what should have been done,” she said.  “I could see that Chief Baloun and Klinefelter are both very passionate and genuinely enjoy training and teaching.  The extra bonus was having Sgt. Lawson share his experiences out in the real world.  This brought the simulations into reality for me.”

 

“I think this exercise will give council and the city a better chance to deal with the public on the front line when it comes to police activity and conduct,” said Baloun.

 

“In law enforcement, every move you make is subject to criticism and media distortion/hype in a situation in which you are forced to fire your weapon or use any sort of force,” said Oliver. “In the face of those risks, plus the risk of their personal safety, doesn't it make sense to at least wait for facts before joining a lynch mob?”

 

Baloun also had Mayor Lefty Kleis and Council Member Rick Hendrickson attend the exercise on a different date and Baloun said their experience was much of what Keller, Oliver and Pruszinske undertook.

 

Keeprs is located at 3535 W. Division St. in St. Cloud and their simulator is open to the public.