Willoughby Hills police officers train to prepare for ambushes
Oct. 28—Willoughby Hills Police Chief Matthew Naegele points out that nationwide, at least 11 officers were shot within the last week, which included several fatal shootings.
It's an indicator of how the law enforcement profession has been going and the increased dangers officers are faced with, he said.
"Any situation could arise at any given time regardless of the community you work in," Naegele said. "None of us are exempt from the dangers that law enforcement, nationwide, faces day in and day out. It's a priority of mine and to the city to make sure we're providing the best equipment that we can, and that we're training our officers in a variety of areas — use of force situations, traffic stops, defensive tactics, deescalation and first aid."
So, in order to provide the most realistic force-on-force experience, the Willoughby Hills department trained on skills related to tactical patrol last week, utilizing simulation weapons and ammunition.
When the department undergoes this type of training, it's important to note that it's not simply tabletop exercises, Naegele said, but real-life training.
"We have officers using non-lethal training ammunition that we're actually able to shoot at each other with," he said. "It leaves marking paint on the person who gets hit. We'll put officers in scenarios where a bad guy may jump out of a car an ambush them. It automatically puts them into that real-life situation where they're forced to react the way they train."
Last week's training had a focus in domestic violence room entry and traffic stops. Much of that focus was based on officers being set up with fake 911 calls or ambush scenarios regarding responding to residences, as well as traffic stops, said Capt. Greg Leonbruno.
Leonbruno serves on the Western Lake County SWAT team in addition to the Willoughby Hills department and helps coordinate trainings. Many of the officers who were shot and killed in the last week and a half have been ambush-related whether that be suspects calling in fake 911 calls and then ambushing the officers when they respond, he said.
"Our main focus is to get (officers) more tactically sound whether that be just responding to your every day disturbance and traffic stops," Leonbruno said. "We're always going to be behind the curve if someone chooses violence against us."
Officers focus on traffic stop training alone throughout the year and room entry, as well as hands-on and jujitsu training.
"These are all perishable skills," Leonbruno said. "You need a lot more training to be able to retain the information, so we try to spread it out so officers have that retention. At the end of the year, we do an all inclusive, scenario-based training."
For the officers, it's not only a matter of undergoing solid, foundational training to ensure they are able to react to a potential threat, but the building of team spirit that comes with it, Naegele said.
"That's what police work is about," he said. "It's building teamwork and getting to know one another because those are relationships they're going to rely upon if a critical incident comes up."
