Originally aired February 23, 2001

The State Patrol may have moved it’s training from Lincoln to a new and improved facility in Grand Island. But it’s the same grueling schedule - 19 weeks and nearly 900 hours. Recruits train in an intense, paramilitary environment. The Patrol says the reason is simple – developing discipline can mean the difference between life and death. Law enforcement is dangerous work – over the years 10 Nebraska troopers have died in the line of duty.

Tonight “Statewide’s” Mike Tobias continues his two-part look inside the world of Class 45 – last year’s class of State Patrol recruits. We’ll look at some of the more hazardous aspects of the job – like dealing with armed suspects. We’ll also see how they handle the long days leading up to graduation.

Watch the Perspective story here:
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Listen as Col. Tom Nesbitt, Nebraska State Patrol superintendent, talks to Class 45 recruits on the first day of training.
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Take a guided tour of the Combat Exertion Course from week 5 of training. Segment includes comments from training officer Jeff Barnes.
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Shoot or don't shoot? Recruits face the decision during computer-generated FATS simulations from week 11. Segment includes comments from training officer Jeff Barnes and recruit Jim Reilly.
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Take a guided tour of the Pursuit Driving Course from week 12 of training. Segment includes comments from training officer Jeff Barnes and recruit Ryan Henrichs.
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See 64 years of State Patrol training. This segment includes video of training from 1937, 1945, 1956, 1963, 1975 and 1984. You'll also find comments at the beginning and end from Elmer Schroeder, who directed State Patrol training in the 1960s and 1970s.
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TRANSCRIPT

Transcript of Perspective

TRANSCRIPT - Nebraska State Patrol Training: Part II

Reported by Statewide correspondent Mike Tobias.

[Myron Bell] "It's pretty tiring, actually, by the time we get in at night, get bedded down."

Thirty-nine year old Myron Bell spent twenty years as a mechanic in the Air Force. Now he's chasing a goal set ten years ago.

[Bell] "It's something I've always wanted to do. So I got an opportunity to do it and I'm here."

He leaves behind a wife and two teenaged kids when he returns to camp each Sunday night.

[Bell's son] "You kinda get used to it. I mean, I wish he was around sometimes so I could talk to him, but I know he has to go do what he has to do."

[Bell's wife] "He ways it's rough. It's rougher than what he thought it would be. He thought it was going to be a lot like his boot camp in the military. He says it's a lot more physical and mental."

It doesn't get much more physical then defensive tactics training. It's two weeks of fending off knife attacks, handcuffing and hand-to-hand combat.

[Sgt. Frank Peck] "We're trying to teach the officer how to control resistive behavior by using joint manipulations, pressure points in the body and major muscle masses of the body."

[Jim Reilly] "I think everybody's been discovering quite a few bruises lately."

[Sgt. Peck] "It's pretty physical on them. They have to know what it feels like to get kicked and punched the way that we do."

Tony Kavan knows how it feels. A hit like this knocked him out earlier in the week. But it's all fun for this ex-Marine.

[Tony Kavan] "It's nice to get out, get outside, take some of that aggression out on each other we've been kinda saving up for the past nine weeks or so."

Kavan is following in family footsteps. His dad Kent is a sergeant in the carrier enforcement division. An uncle is a trooper.

[Sgt. Kent Kavan] "When he got in, when he got the first letter saying he got accepted as trooper, I called Kevin, my brother, and he had to pull over and stop he was so excited."

[Kavan] "Dad keeps saying he's going to talk to guys he knows and I'll be out there in the rain doing push-ups for no apparent reason."

Kent Kavan has watched other officers pin badges on their sons during graduation. He looks forward to this experience.

[Sgt. Kavan] "I see the looks on the faces of these men that I've known for years, and worked with their kids and things like that and I go, yeah, that's pretty cool. I suppose in a lot of ways it's a validation of what you do."

Most patrol officers live in their cars, on the road. Diving and pursuit training are vital. Recruits learn new steering and braking techniques.

[Driving Instructor] "One hand feeding the wheel to the other. Keeping the hands relatively close to 9 and 3."

We're watching their braking. The heel is basically planted on the floorboard and the foot moves from the accelerator to the brake and back.

[Ryan Henrichs] "There's a lot of stuff that goes into it. You come out thinking it's just driving, but it's nothing like that. But it's fun, it's a lot of fun."

This is a low-speed pursuit course with lots of tight turns - the recruits don't get above 40 miles an hour. No matter the speed, driving is dangerous. Car accidents have killed more Nebraska troopers than guns.

[Jeff Barnes] "You use your car keys a whole lot more than your handgun. So the mistakes that law enforcement make are usually increased because of the speeds involved."

[Troopers] "Class 45 is who we are, lights and sirens on our car."

It's a week before graduation and many of the skills learned come together in simulations training.

[Barnes] "We're trying to show them as close as we can what an actual police shooting could be in real life and how quickly it could happen."

The guns fire soap pellets at 500 feet per second. They send a message.

[Barnes] "If you're within about 25 feet and hit open skin, it will hurt."

The scenarios are realistic. In this case an armed escaped felon's car has broken down.

[Jim Reilly] "Come out with your hands up! Step out with your hands up! Get your hands up! Get your hands up! Put the gun down… put it down! Put it down!

"Stand up. Stand up. Stand up… put the gun down!"

A lot of thoughts run through my mind at that time. One of them is am I going to get run over when I step out here on the road? Is he going to have a weapon? Is he going to come right at me? Is he going to duck behind the car, like he did?

This scenario is called suicide by cop. The driver wants the officer to shoot him.

[Instructor] "Stay in the vehicle. Put the weapon down. Put the weapon down. I will shoot you!"

[2nd Instructor] "You almost let me get too close. If you have to make a choice, you made the right choice."

Recruit Myron Bell gets a radio call that on officer has been shot in this scenario. He doesn't know if one or more suspects are still on the scene.

[Bell] "Get out with your hands up!"

Bell detains one suspect. But another catches him by surprise.

The suspect fired a dozen rounds at Bell before he returned fire. In real life Bell might have been killed.

[Instructor] "Number one, you left your cover. And number, when you went down to secure him, you did… I mean your back was right to me."

[Bell] "It's something they've always taught us, you know, that when you get into a traffic stop you never know what to expect."

It's a reality check for other recruits.

What's going through your mind when that guy comes at you with a tire iron?

[Kavan] "Him or me, him or me. When I saw it, that's exactly what went through my head was, if this was real life, only one of us was going home and I got a wife and I love her so it's going to be me going home and not him."

[Maaske] "Good morning and welcome t graduation day."

Graduation morning the recruits don full uniforms for the first time.

Classmates picked Myron Bell to speak.

[Bell] "Class 45 looks at the people of this state as citizens of a great nation and deserve the right to be free and be able to do the things that they want as long as it does not infringe upon others."

[Mike Johanns] "I place great trust in our troopers and our carrier enforcement officers, enormous trust."

[Maaske] "Officer Myron M. Bell, badge number 8303.

The honor of badging Trooper Kavan will be his father, Sergeant Kent Kavan.

[Sgt. Kavan] "I grabbed his arm and said congratulations. I think we exchanged more with our eyes than anything else."

[Kavan] "I feel like I've really followed in his footsteps for a lot of my life and it was great to have him come up there and put it on."

[Nesbitt] "The bond that unites us can be the light in times of darkness. You can depend on this family. This is my pledge to you. It is your assurance that you will never have to fight the good fight alone."

[Ryan Henrichs] "Class 45 presents this guidon back to you to be displayed at the barracks along with all the other camps that have preceded us."

A post-graduation reception lets new officers bring their new and old families together.

[Bell] "There were times that I thought, well maybe this is just not for me, and I was about ready to just cash it in and go on about my business."

Those guys, they really got behind me and really started prodding me to motivate me a little more to hang in there.

[Reilly] "I've relieved that it's finally over. Real excited to get on the road and to start doing my job."

It's also a new assignment for these buildings. This was the last group to train here. Next year the training academy moves to a new facility in Grand Island.