Police Academy Focuses on Training Officers in Smashing and Running Through Doors
Police officers have to undergo extensive training in order to make it on a squad. A traditional police training course often requires recruits to run up and down stairs, sprint, and lift several heavy objects,
(prHWY.com) June 21, 2012 - Seattle, WA -- Police officers have to undergo extensive training in order to make it on a squad. A traditional police training course often requires recruits to run up and down stairs, sprint, and lift several heavy objects, but a new training course will include a new element - doors.
The Phoenix Police Academy, which trains potential police recruits for the Phoenix, Arizona and surrounding areas, has developed a new course. This course includes an extensive lineup of several doors that require officers to run through them or knock them down.
"You never know what type of situation you will run into as a police officer", said police chief of Phoenix, Fred Stone. "You could enter a house that has a door with a large glass enclosure or you could encounter an extremely heavy door that needs to be knocked down. This course prepares are recruits for what lies ahead."
The recruits spend an intense three days learn how to properly knock down doors using their shoulder. They learn how to approach different sized doors and how to handle doors with glass and other unique characteristics.
"The movies like to show these police officers just ramming their shoulder into the door and it falls away", said Stone. "It doesn't work like that. There is an extensive amount of thought that has to be put in it to avoid shoulder injuries. That is what we teach our recruits."
The Phoenix Police Academy has teamed up with a local manufacturer of doors in Phoenix. The manufacturer
makes several different style doors that are used exclusively for the police academy.
"We decided to team up with Doors, Inc. for this project", said Stone. "Not only does it save us money, but it gives our trainees a chance to really experience real-life situations that they will encounter. They laugh when they see 'doors session' on their schedule, but it is serious business."
In addition to knocking down doors the recruits learn how to run through the doors. This is an important skill to learn for police who may need to pursue people while on foot. Doors can sometimes differ in size, which causes people to run into the side if they misjudge the size.
"We have a running course that requires our recruits run through various open doors", said Stone. "They think it looks funny when they enter the course, and say how easy it is, but it isn't easy at all. It's tougher than it looks."
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