CRPD Citizens Police Academy as experienced by Gazette reporter (Archived series)

THE GAZETTE

04/05/2003

Arresting lessons

Citizens academy spells out procedures used by C.R. police

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

By the end of May, I will have driven a police squad car, shot a police handgun and been in the Linn County Jail.

These are just three topics of the 10 lessons during the eighth Citizens Police Academy of the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

Sixteen people, including myself, attended the first class Wednesday night.

The academy was designed to explain police practices and procedures to area residents.

"This is our way of giving back a little bit," Police Capt. Glen Fox told the group.

During the first weekly session, the class took a tour of the police station at 505 First St. SW and learned the ins and outs of the building.

The $18.1 million building has:

• 238 parking spaces for employees and 28 for the public.
• 17 security video cameras.
• 255 lockers for men and 76 for females.
• 110 thermostats. Many workers can control their office temperatures within a 10-degree range from the building's temperature.

Next Wednesday's session will focus on the field operation's division and will include topics ranging from K-9 to the Special Response Team and the bike patrol.

In May, class members will undergo driver's training - hitting the course pylons won't get you a traffic ticket, Fox promised.

That same day, a couple of hours later, the class will go through firearms' training. The academy will be finished May 21 with a tour of the Linn County Jail.

"I think more kids ought to take a tour of the jail," Fox said. "I went in there one day and they have a dayroom. And they just sit there. If you want to give up all your rights for that, OK."

Police Chief Mike Klappholz told the class he was glad to see residents give up their Wednesday nights to learn about police work.

"Ninety percent of arrests officers make are because somebody picked up the phone and called 911," he said.

"We need your help. People usually don't break the law in front of a black and white squad car."

THE GAZETTE

04/14/2003

Class learns of bike patrol, K-9 units

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

Last year, Cedar Rapids police towed 3,819 vehicles. Nearly half - 1,694 - were hauled away because the drivers had been arrested.

"We tow the vehicle whenever we arrest somebody," said Lt. Chuck Mincks, special operations commander for the Cedar Rapids Police Department. "If the car is left and gets vandalized, the city would be responsible."

Mincks was one of five speakers at last week's session of the Eighth Citizens Police Academy.

Nineteen people, including myself, attended the second class.

Topic: The field operations division, which includes the patrol platoons, K-9 units, bike patrol and the Special Response Team.

We learned about drunken driving arrests - 724 in 2002 by Cedar Rapids police - and we learned why drunken drivers are stopped in the first place. The most common reasons are speeding, an accident,

suspicious vehicle (somebody has stopped in an intersection and passed out) and improper use of lanes.

Later in the three-hour session, police officer Daniel Jabens told the group about his canine partner of four years, Djarko.

"We work together and then go home together," said Jabens, a seven-year veteran of the department. "He sleeps on the floor and then when my wife gets up he sleeps in bed next to me."

Jabens showed the group the 85-pound Belgian Malanois' custom-fitted bulletproof vest. At home, three garbage bags are filled with tennis balls used as treats when a dog has found drugs on the job.

"With their jaws, they chew them up in 30 seconds," Jabens said.

Police officer Larry White showed off one of the department's eight patrol bikes.

Officers, specially trained on bike patrol, exchange the bikes for the comfort of their squad cars when staffing levels allow.

On an average shift, officers can put up to 25 miles on the bikes, which are equipped with emergency lights on the handle bars.

THE GAZETTE

04/22/2003

Experiencing police scenarios

Citizens in academy give arrest situations their best shot

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - My partner and I were investigating a bank robbery when the suspect opened fire.

As we returned fire, I shot my partner in the left shoulder and never hit the suspect. Fortunately, it was only a drill on the Cedar Rapids Police Department's Firearms Training System (FATS) last week.

Sgt. Phil Hansen led students in the Eighth Annual Citizens Police Academy through 30 minutes of individual training.

Different police-related scenarios are displayed on a large screen in front of students. Participants then react to the scenarios and are presented with shoot and don't-shoot scenarios.

A computer then registers where students' shots hit.

In one scenario, Gazette photographer Brian Ray and I hid behind bushes and observed a drug deal going down. Suddenly, we stepped away from cover and ordered the bad guys to comply with our orders.

The one on the right pulled out a gun and fired at us. The guy on the left quickly lifted his hands and gave up.

"Oh no, I fired at the wrong guy," I quickly explained to Hansen. "But he moved quickly and I thought he had something in his hand."

Hansen said that explanation might not be good enough in court.

Two good things about the experience: My shot was wide left and I decided to leave the shooting up to others.

In another class last week, the polygraph's meter went up and down as one of the students told her instructor she had been the best teacher that night.

Cedar Rapids police Lt. Tina Debban, one of four speakers at the Citizens Police Academy, showed the class how the department's polygraph works. One of the students was hooked up to the machine.

Debban told her to say "yes" after Debban asked if she had been the best instructor that night.

Debban explained the polygraph showed her reaction to being told what to say.

Between 1998 to 2002, police used the polygraph test on 509 people, mostly for pre-employment testing for law enforcement or correctional careers, Debban explained.

Debban, who heads up the department's Sex Crime Unit, also talked about sex crimes and the sex offender registry.

Anyone can check if a person is on the sex offender registry, which was established in 1995. A written request, including the person's name and one of three items - date of birth, address or social security number - have to be provided to find out if a person is on the registry.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department's investigative division, which Debban is a part of, consists of 41 officers. Six of those are commanders, 26 are detectives and investigators, four are I.D. officers, four are secretaries and one is a crime analysis person.

In 2002, the general crime unit, which includes the entire division except the narcotics part, reviewed 21,572 reports. Of those, 2,968 were assigned for further investigation, said Capt. Jim Noonan,

head of the bureau.

"A lot of those were criminal mischiefs - somebody had a window broken in a car and there are no suspects," Noonan explained when asked by a student why not all cases are investigated. "It's kind of like triage in the medical field."

Training

Different police-related scenarios are displayed on a large screen in front of students. Participants then react to the scenarios and are presented with shoot and don't-shoot scenarios.

THE GAZETTE

04/29/2003

Police take prevention message to schools

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

Officer Ken Bracy, a 26-year Cedar Rapids police veteran, works with area students toward a better understanding of police work.

Often it takes years to pay off.

Bracy, who works in the department's crime prevention bureau, spends much of his time talking to students at area schools. A few years ago, he talked to a kindergarten class when a young boy stared at him and finally pulled on Bracy's leg.

"I hate cops," the boy told Bracy.

"How many have you met?" the officer asked.

"None, just you ... but I hate you."

The boy's parents apparently had taught the child that police officers "will either kill you with their gun or put you in jail and you'll never come home," Bracy said during last week's class of the Citizens Police Academy.

Bracy lost track of the boy for a couple of years until he went on a jog in the boy's neighborhood. The two waved at each other in passing.

"The next day, on the same route, he had all his friends out there and said, 'This is officer Friendly ... he's my friend,"' Bracy recalled with a wide smile on his face.

"They know it's coming and it still flusters them," Hamblin said of tellers and others involved in the drill.

"It's a wonderful training tool for them."

She also handed out a bright pink "Send Help" sign. The sign should be folded in half and stored in a car's glove compartment. If the car ever breaks down, the sign should be put in the back window where passing motorists can see it, Hamblin said.

Motorists should not get out of the car and catch a ride with anybody, she warned. If a stranded motorist has to catch a ride, he or she is urged to fill out the back of the sign. It asks for the person's name and the name of the person giving the ride.

For information on the signs, call the crime prevention bureau at 286-5440.

THE GAZETTE

05/06/2003

Keeping high-profile visitors safe

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Police Sgt. Joe Cerruto is in charge of security when the president, presidential hopefuls and other politicians come to town.

Cerruto, the department's special events coordinator, works with other law enforcement agencies to make sure the celebrity stays safe in Cedar Rapids.

He decides where extra security is needed and where officers need to patrol.

Oftentimes, with the increased threat of explosives, security is needed further out than in the past, he explained to members of the Citizens Police Academy last week.

"We don't want a truck or car with explosives to ruin everyone's day," he said.

He also coordinates the route the visitor and the motorcade will take. An alternate route must be planned and a hospital route also has to be drawn up.

At this point, Cerruto and other organizers can only hope nothing unexpected happens like a few years ago when former vice president Al Gore came to town and intended to visit former Public Safety Commissioner Nancy Evans at her home.

The planning went well and everything seemed to be in order, so Cerruto went to teach a class at a local college. His pager went off, alerting him of a water main break near Evans' house.

Other times, politicians have changed their itineraries on a moment's notice and the three routes have had to be changed.

Organizing special visits is just one of the many hats Cerruto wears for the department.

He also is in charge of public relations, is a firearms instructor and is in charge of outfitting the department's officers.

"Basically, I'm the personal shopper for 200 people," he said.

"I buy everything (work-related) for them except their underwear. If something was bought, chances are my name is on the order."

Each officer is outfitted with uniforms, digital radios, a night stick, pepper spray, flashlight and other needed items.

Even plainclothes officers - like detectives, investigators and administrators - carry pepper spray, Cerruto explained.

Each officer who drives a city vehicle carries pepper spray on his or her key ring, he said.

THE GAZETTE

05/12/2003

High-speed education

Residents practice driving, shooting at C.R. police academy

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Police here don't shoot at a fleeing car while pursuing in a police cruiser, Lt. Brent Long said.

So, one of last week's classes of the Citizens Police Academy split the two topics apart.

In the morning, we drove old Cedar Rapids squad cars through a driving course that included weaving in and out of cones and driving through a configuration.

In the afternoon, the group traveled to the department's shooting range on Old River Road SW to test some of the force's handguns, shotguns and machine guns.

Much of the department's driving training is geared toward high-speed pursuits, said Long, a department driving instructor.

"We dictate the chase and not the person we chase," Long told the class. "They don't have the training ... we do."

Cedar Rapids police policy dictates that up to three cruisers can be involved in the chase: the primary unit, which usually attempted to make contact with the motorist in the first place; a secondary unit, which would be another officer in the area; and a commander.

"And any one of those can call it off," Long said.

"We look at the danger to the community and if we have to get the person."

The department's helicopter can also take over a chase and follow the car in a safe manner, Long said.

Although students of the citizens academy didn't get to chase each other, we got a taste of police maneuvers.

During the first exercise, I weaved through about a dozen cones, only hitting three.

"Those were three citizens," Long told me.

During the next drill, I maneuvered the car through a circle set up with cones. I drove the car into one end of the circle and promptly hit all the cones on the curve. Again, Long quickly pointed out the cones could be citizens.

As soon as we stopped, Long's cell phone rang and the other instructor called to let us know one of the cones was stuck underneath the car.

During the afternoon session, the class packed up and headed to the department's shooting range.

I stopped at Sgt. Phil Hansen's station first. Loaded up the G36C submachine gun, getting ready to play Rambo.

I took the weapon in my arms, turning around to face Hansen to ask more questions. Every time, he quickly pushed the weapon, already loaded with a 30-round magazine, back the other way.

Seconds later, I fired 60 shots - two magazines - in quick intervals, hitting the target or the little hill behind it every time.

THE GAZETTE

05/21/2003

Police academy students square off

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Members of the Citizens Police Academy got to beat each other up during a recent class.

Students paired up with one student holding a football practice-style dummy and the other punching and kicking the dummy.

Sgt. Glenn Kieler, a department defense tactics and physical fitness instructor, led the class through 30 minutes of theory and an hour of hands-on practice.

During the classroom session, he demonstrated several grips that allow officers to pull up people sitting on the ground. During one technique, he placed his fingertips underneath the person's chin and pulls up.

"Up, up, up," he yelled, explaining that every physical maneuver has to be accompanied by a verbal command of what the officer wants the person to do.

For example, an officer knees a suspect who isn't complying, with orders to put his second hand on his back to be handcuffed.

Kieler said sometimes it takes several kicks for the person to understand that he is not complying with orders, especially when the person is drunk.

During the first drill, the class learned how police officers are trained to strike another person. Officers put their strong-side foot, which is the right foot for a right-handed person, to the back and the other foot slightly in front of the body.

We learned that when officers strike with their weak-side hand they yell "back" and when they punch with their strong hand they scream "down."

Class member Mat Tanner and I teamed up and tried to take it easy on each other. We usually exchanged a handful of punches before we stopped - usually because we were tired. The woman to my right took a beating from her partner, despite the dummy.

But she kept her ground, while her partner's fist turned red from the hits.

Later, we learned how to kick our partner in the legs.

That week's class, the week of May 4, was kicked off by police Capt. Jeff Mellgren's presentation about the internal affairs bureau of the department.

Mellgren, the internal affairs investigator since January, looks into complaints by citizens and officers against the department's officers.

Sometimes there are complaints that don't involve an officer.

"My most memorable complaint was a concern about a dead bird on the sidewalk," said Mellgren, a 23-year veteran on the department. "This may not seem like much to many but for the person making (the complaint) it was serious."

Mellgren explained that many complaints by residents stem from misconceptions. "Television doesn't help much, either," he said.

One time a woman complained of mistreatment after officers arrested her and then didn't allow her to give cab fare to her daughter.

"It's our policy that we don't do that," Mellgren explained the officer's action.

"We don't do it to be mean, but it's our policy. We don't let people, once they've been arrested, hand money off to others."

THE GAZETTE

05/28/2003

Seeing, hearing, learning

Jail tour, statistical rundown conclude citizens' academy

By Christoph Trappe

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Members of this year's Citizens Police Academy got an earful from convicted bank robber Anthony Flowers last week.

The 17 class members graduated from the two-month class last week but not before taking an hourlong tour of the Linn County Jail.

The group started in the single cells on the bottom floor, all 17 squeezing into one of the pink cells. They are painted that color to have a calming impact on a misbehaving inmate, said Linn County Sheriff's Lt. John Stuelke, assistant jail administrator who gave the tour.

We then moved by the people who were just arrested and in holding cells, commonly called the drunk tanks.

We looked at the dormitory-style cells on the second and third floors. Inmates sleep and hang out in the same area day and night.

Their beds are near television sets, and inmates can slumber on their mats, without pillows, any time of the day.

The jail doesn't give inmates pillows but many rest their heads on bundled-up T-shirts.

On the fourth and fifth floors, inmates are locked in their cells at night and locked out of them during the day. During the tour, many inmates were seen napping on the concrete floor in their cellblock's daytime areas.

Class members took the elevator up to the fifth floor and were promptly greeted by Flowers, who was sentenced last week to two life prison terms for Iowa bank robberies. He looked through the small window of his single cell at the end of the hallway.

Flowers quickly told us in no uncertain terms that he didn't like jail tours and that he isn't too fond of Stuelke, either.

The group took the verbal abuse and moved on.

The last class of the academy was kicked off by a presentation by Jean Kuehl of the Iowa Department of Corrections.

She asked the class questions about the Iowa prison system and rewarded correct answers with candy. She asked how many people are currently in prisons (about 8,500), how many are minorities (24

percent) and what the inmate count will be in 2011 if numbers keep going up at the current pace (12,000).

She talked about conversations between the offender and the victim.

Often, the criminal doesn't even know the name of the person hurt in the crime, such as burglaries.

Victims, asked during department surveys, said they wanted these things from the criminal's imprisonment: accountability to the victim; for the offender to learn from it; and protection for the community.