Lovejoy and dozens of Middletown officers this week and last received training exercises provided free of charge from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The simulator takes officers on real scenarios from rushing to an injury crash to assisting an officer on a traffic stop with a gun involved.
“It is just very important because we are on the road 24 hours a day regardless of weather. Anything we get through training just makes us better,” said Middletown Police Chief Rodney Muterspaw.
Lovejoy’s crash happened in a split second, at least one person in the room with him didn’t even see the vehicle hit the cruiser.
At every intersection, whether officers running lights and sirens have the green light or not, they are taking precautions to clear the area with out colliding with a pedestrian, inattentive driver or even a child that darts out in the road.
“People run red lights everyday, all the time,” said Officer Jon Hoover.
Hoover and Lovejoy were put through the paces Tuesday. Hoover was successful navigating through a few tricky intersections and arriving at a crash with a wounded person laying in the roadway.
Instructing the driving training was Scott Mann, an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper who works for the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy.
“We are not going to do anybody any good if we don’t get there,” Mann said, while offering the officers tips for spotting problems at intersections, minimizing crashes if they do occur and even problems after traffic stops when a driver throws open a door but doesn’t exit after committing a traffic infraction.
Mann also pointed out that, now more than ever before, cruisers are equipped with a large amount of equipment, including computers, regular radios and cell phones.
“We are the epitome of a distracted driver,” Mann said, noting officers are better equipped to handle multi tasking in the cruiser because they have been doing it for so long.
He noted it is easy to fall into the one hand on the wheel, but best practice is both hands at the top of wheel.
Jill Del Greco, spokeswoman for Mike DeWine’s Office, said the office started the mobile academy program in 2012 with three driving and three firearms simulators because it recognized the expense for departments to travel to London or Richland for training.
The program has now been increased to seven each of the simulators, which are paid for by casino monies, Del Greco said. There is no cost to departments.
“There is a high demand for them across the state,” she said.
Lt Scott Reeve, a 30-year veteran of the force, went through the driving training and was surprised by the outcome.
“I crashed,” he said. “Even at my age you learn from these guys … They gather a lot of facts and have a lot of information, it is helpful even for old guy like me.”
Officers also received firearms training this month, which took then through scenarios about use of deadly force.
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