About two dozen teenagers learned what it takes to be in law enforcement last week during the Lakeland Police Department’s sixth annual High School Police Academy.
Sgt. Adrian Rodriguez, who oversees the uniform patrol division, said this was his fourth year running the free camp and he has seen it turn into successful careers for several people. “I’ve averaged one kid per academy that works for the Lakeland Police Department,” he said.
Why it matters: Some of LPD’s top brass are set to retire in the next few years and there is a need for law enforcement officers as Lakeland continues to grow in population.
While the students can’t attend the real law enforcement academy until they’re within six months of their 21st birthday, they can participate in the Explorer Program from age 14 and become full-time public safety aides at 18.
Some of the things the students learned during the week:
- How the 9-1-1 communications department works.
- What detectives do and how they question people.
- What law enforcement does during an in-progress shooting.
- How to make a traffic stop.
- What the drone operator does and how.
- How to search and clear a building.
- What it’s like to work with a K-9 officer.
- How to use a taser.
- How to take down and arrest someone.
Their final task on Friday was to investigate a murder and capture two suspects — all fake, of course, for the sake of the camp.
They were issued a cloth belt that looked similar to the leather belts officers wear. Tucked into a holster was an uncharged Glock air-soft pistol that looks, feels and has a similar weight to a real pistol. There were also pouches that would have held ammunition, handcuffs, a flashlight and a radio.
Interested students: Noble Darrington, 16, is a rising junior at Lakeland High School. He said he is interested in law enforcement, with his uncle and grandfather having worked at LPD and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Brooke Brunner, 16, is a rising junior at Auburndale High School. She said she wanted to attend because her family has a military and law enforcement history. She noted that her grandfather was a longtime Polk County Sheriff’s deputy.
Her hobbies include hunting, fishing and watching crime shows and documentaries. She said she enjoyed learning how to clear a building “and make sure we weren’t turning our back on doors.”
Day 1 — Detectives
On Monday afternoon, LPD Detectives Cody Bardwell and David Bell talked about investigating property crimes.
Cargo theft: Bardwell explained that cargo theft results in $30-50 billion worth of goods being stolen each year in the United States. Thieves will take entire tractor-trailers, so some companies now require drivers to fully gas up in Ocala before they enter what’s called “the red zone” of Central and South Florida.
Attention to detail: Both detectives stressed the importance of writing clear, concise reports (also known as affidavits) that include all the elements: who was involved, what happened, when it happened, where it happened, why it happened and how the crime was committed. Supervisors read those reports and have to sign off on them.
“If you write a crappy report … that’s how you’re going to be known — a sloppy, inconsistent, incoherent report writer,” Bardwell said. Attention to detail can make or break a patrol officer’s chances of being promoted to detective.
Interrogation: During a mock interrogation, the two men sat at a table with a “suspect” and questioned him about a theft from a construction site.
Bell pointed out that the man was giving short answers, telling them to ask other people — known as deflection. He wasn’t looking at them and had his arms folded. They asked about his daily habits to see if he was consistent in his routine that day.
When they had enough information to reasonably suspect he committed the crime, they read him his Miranda rights, asking him with each question if he understood. Once he asked for a lawyer, the questioning stopped.
Day 2 — 9-1-1 calls and traffic stops
Sgt. Alonzo Gay, who is in charge of the school resource officers division, cautioned the students that no call for service is ordinary.
No routine calls: “You can go to a hundred 9-1-1 calls and nothing happened, but there’s that one,” Gay said. “Keep it in your mind that there are no routine calls.”
Traffic stops 101: Officers JR West and Raymundo Fermin showed the students how to safely conduct a traffic stop, from spotting a driver doing something illegal to pulling the vehicle over and approaching the car.
Before leaving their patrol car, officers must give dispatch the license plate number, the make, model and description of the vehicle, and the location of the stop.
“You’re approaching the vehicle, you put your finger on the vehicle,” West said, explaining that the officer’s fingerprint and DNA should be placed on the vehicle in case something happens. “The vehicle takes off, the vehicle runs you over, dispatch has a plate and make, they have a color they know what they’re looking for.”
Christian Popoca, 17, a Florida Southern College freshman studying criminology, was the first to try. He approached the truck, touched the taillight, remained at the edge of the driver’s door and began talking with the “driver,” portrayed by Fermin.
Popoca explained that he had pulled him over for speeding, but the driver had a hard time hearing him because his radio was blasting music. Finally, Fermin offered to turn it down.
When Popoca, who wants to go into federal law enforcement, told the driver he was only giving him a warning, Fermin offered to shake Popoca’s hand. Instinctively, Popoca turned him down, knowing that the driver could pull him into the vehicle or take off and drag him with the vehicle.
Day 3 — K-9
The next morning, Officer Ted Sealey talked with the students about working with his K-9 partner Gabor, a black German Shepherd. He said if he’s on a scene and things start to turn bad, all he has to do is hit a remote-control button, which opens the car door, and Gabor is at his side immediately.
Catch and hold: Sealey explained that K-9s are not used to maul people. Instead, their job is to bite down and hold on to stop people.
“When those dogs are biting down on your leg… they punch our dogs and kick our dogs,” he said. “We give people every chance to surrender.”
Sealey then demonstrated with K-9 Ace how a takedown works by putting on a protective, padded sleeve and having Ace run and bite down on it. When he was done, Ace trotted over to the students, the sleeve in his mouth, and happily accepted pets and ear scratches.
Intense bond: “If you don’t have a passion for dogs, this is not the job for you,” Sealey said. “Our dogs are with us 24/7. My dog knows how to open doors. He sleeps at the end of my bed in a dog bed. … I love my dogs like they’re my kids.”
Day 4 — Forensics and drones
On Thursday, the forensics team taught the students about fingerprinting by holding a black light up to a plastic bag with a palm print clearly visible. They also made casts of the students’ shoes.
Det. Mark Pothier runs LPD’s drone and demonstrated the unit in the two-story-tall indoor classroom. “They’re cheaper than a helicopter — if they crash, not as many people get upset,” Pothier said, noting he flies it about 150 feet so suspects can’t hear its buzzing sound.
Portable and invaluable: “When you go in, it’s an invaluable tool,” Pothier said. He recalled finding a perpetrator in a lake using the drone’s infrared sensor, which picks up body heat.
He said the $20,000 drone he uses fits in a small briefcase and can sit in the passenger seat of his car, making it immensely portable. “It can send video back to office and people there can watch.”
Pothier spent more than 20 years in the U.S. Army and Army reserves, 25 years at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, and retired from both of those and then went to work for LPD, hoping to do a full 10 years there to qualify for a third pension.
Day 5 — Murder scenario
Finally, on Friday, the instructors set up a mock murder case and divided the students into teams, assigned by the summer camp leaders who had been watching them all week:
- Patrol officers.
- Detectives.
- Crime scene technicians.
- SWAT team members.
- Public information officers.
The scenario the students were given was a woman’s boyfriend murdered her husband. The boyfriend and woman then ran off. A “murder” scene was set up in the training building, using a dummy for a body, complete with fake blood and an unnaturally twisted leg.
Several of the student patrol officers (with real officers doing the driving) chased the two suspects in a car around the LPD training grounds and out onto Centurion Drive. Another set of students piled into LPD’s armored SWAT vehicle.
“GO, GO, GO!” Rodriguez yelled from the driver’s seat to the SWAT team.
The students rushed out of the back of the vehicle, set off a flashbang — a loud percussive device used to stun and disorient suspects — and then filed toward a building, guns drawn. When the suspect wasn’t in the building, they climbed back into the vehicle.
The car chase then wound its way back into the training facility grounds and the murder suspect emerged from the car and ran. An officer unleashed his K-9 partner, which brought the suspect down.
The student SWAT team surrounded the man and took him into custody. Then several students stopped the vehicle the “wife” was driving and, with their uncharged air-soft pistols drawn, took her into custody.
The students’ families all stood in the shade of two oak trees and watched all the action, applauding as the woman was led away in handcuffs.
Awards
Late Friday afternoon, Chief Sam Taylor and Rodriguez presided over a graduation ceremony, handing out certificates and also special awards.
“This is a tough profession. It’s still an honorable profession, but we need somebody standing in between good and evil,” Taylor told the students. “We need people that are willing to stand in that gap and hold their hand up. That’s what we’re hoping to spark in young people.”
Brunner, who said she is hoping to become a detective one day, received special recognition for her enthusiasm throughout the week.
“This young lady was just the team cheerleader,” Rodriguez said. “Through (physical training) I constantly heard her clapping and yelling. Anytime someone fell behind, she was great.”
Chris Brunner, who is a produce manager for Publix, said he was thrilled to see his daughter evolve throughout the week. When asked how he would feel if she chose a law enforcement career, he said, “I couldn’t be more proud. Law enforcement is in our family.”
Natasha Darrington said she was very happy with the camp for her son, who is interested in detective work.
“He came here in good spirits every day,” she said. When asked how she would feel if he chose a law enforcement career, she smiled and said, “Very proud.”
Taylor told the crowd that previous summer camp classes resulted in several hires for both LPD and the sheriff’s office.
Success story
Janae McGrath took part in one of the first LPD High School Police Academies in 2020 and graduated from Polk State Gateway Collegiate High School the next year.
“I’ve always wanted to get into law enforcement and I felt that was a great way to show me what’s entailed in law enforcement and what the officers do on a daily basis,” McGrath said.
She is a patrol officer, working the night shift along Bartow Highway. She said the program gave her a very clear idea of what law enforcement officers do each day.
“Just being able to go through actual scenarios … teaching you, ‘Hey, you need to do this to actually investigate crimes,’” McGrath said.
She had some advice for the students who are just a few years younger than she is: “If you put your mind to it and really follow through with it, it’s not an easy job, but if you put in the hard work, it’ll be worth it in the end.”
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