WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — For three and a half hours members of a Wausau committee learned what it’s like to be a police officer in tense and dangerous situations.
Monday evening members of the Wausau Policing Task Force met to take a Use of Force training session with the Wausau Police Department. Led by Wausau Police Investigation Captain Ben Graham and Patrol Lieutenant John Phillips, the task force learned use of force training topics like approach considerations, intervention options, and follow-through considerations.
An example of the ammunition used for a foam baton, a protective use of force alternative used by the Wausau Police Department. (MWC photo by Liz Holbrook)
Along with a classroom segment that taught the task force the different training options, the task force also reviewed videos of real-life use of force situations and went through some training simulations. The training simulations were held in the fire truck bay portion of the building and were facilitated with the help of Detective James Martin and Crisis Assessment Officer David Bertram.
Wausau Policing Task Force Member William Harris participates in a use of force simulation with Wausau Police Officer David Bertram. (MWC photo by Liz Holbrook)
The use of force training session lasted for around three and a half hours, giving the task force an idea of what it’s like for law enforcement when training for their toughest situations. Task Force Chair John Robinson says his main takeaway from the session was how important training is for the Wausau Police Department.
“What we learned is the importance of training. The importance of understanding all the responsibilities and approaches. How quickly things happen and the need to be observant and take in a number of factors when you’re approaching it. There is a risk associated with the job and that the officers are faced with,”.
Patrol Lieutenant John Phillips displays the prop gun officers are using in the use of force training simulations the Policing Task Force participated in on June 7th. (MWC photo by Liz Holbrook)
Captain Ben Graham says the information presented to the task force on Monday night is valuable to the community for helping others to understand the mindset of police officers when they are on duty. “It comes down to perspective. And the more that we can share and educate one another, I think the better that we are. You know this just created three hours of opportunity to walk through what goes on in the mind of an officer when they’re confronted with whether it’s passive resistance, active resistance, assaultive behavior, or even a deadly threat.
“It allows the public to empathize a little bit more with the officers when they’re exposed to some of these evolving, tense, rapid situations that they’re sometimes confronted with when they’re out there trying to de-escalate and resolve situations without the use of force. But when they have to, we’re trying to train our officers to use a reasonable amount of force to stop the incident,”.
Patrol Lieutenant John Phillips helps Policing Task Force member William Harris get into the use of force training belt for a simulation exercise. (MWC photo by Liz Holbrook)
Following the training session, Robinson says the task force will use the new information they learned in a variety of ways moving forward. “We’re still looking at are there policies and procedures that we should be evaluating and making recommendations. Are there issues with staffing. I think tonight was more of an educational, background information that we’ll perhaps store. I think again it just points out the need for training to make sure we’ve got the adequate resources that are available to the Department to do that training on a regular basis.
“We’ll also look at it from the perspective of what other services might be needed in the community. We talked about the crisis assessment response team and that whole issue of mental health and mental illness. We have the tools in place. We’ll be looking at evaluating that and potentially making recommendations,”.
Citizens interested in learning more about the use of force in Wausau policing can attend neighborhood groups or participate in citizen academies. Citizen academies have been paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Graham believes they will restart the academies in the near future.
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