BLACKSBURG — The call comes in at dusk: An armed man has forced his way into a student apartment, shoved around the resident, and left after ransacking her closet.
“All I saw was the gun in my face. I don’t know what he looks like. I don’t know what he took,” the student shrieks.
What she fails to mention is the blood-spattered bullet hole in her kitchen wall the forensic team soon finds. Also the jimmied safe and kitchen scales in her closet. Inconsistencies and unanswered questions abound.
Happily for the citizens of Blacksburg, this armed robber is not at large. The crime is a simulated one, and unraveling the questions surrounding this scenario occupies the participants of the Blacksburg Citizens Police Academy for the next four weeks. Through this investigation and police briefings, participants learn about the structure and operations of the Blacksburg Police Department. Over the course of seven weeks, the citizens experience a bit of what it’s like to be a police officer, from the gear they wear to securing a crime scene to watching a K-9 officer, a German shepherd, make a drug find.
“This is the first year we’ve involved the citizens academy in a crime investigation,” said town Police Chief Anthony Wilson. “I wanted to do something more hands-on this year, to show the public that what we do is not ‘C.S.I.’ or some other television show.”
“I love how the police got us involved in investigating this crime, letting us investigate the crime scene and interview the victims. It was an exciting way to learn about what they do,” said Cindy Garrett, a civil engineer who says she’s interested in detective fiction.
Television crime dramas vex many officers. For one thing, crimes aren’t solved in an hour. Even combing the crime scene for evidence goes on far longer. Television doesn’t show the forensic detective splashing liquid reagent over a wall to expose traces of blood; it doesn’t show him removing door knobs or sawing out pieces bullet-punctured wall board — interior and exterior — for the lab. The angle of the shot and position of the shooter can be determined from the bullet hole. Television doesn’t show the detective prowling around a building inch by inch looking for disturbances in the soil, window smudges and cigarette butts that could contain the suspect’s DNA.
And it doesn’t show the police waiting months for a report from the regional crime lab, where objects are analyzed for fingerprints, DNA, drugs and gunpowder. The backlog of cases at the state’s forensics laboratories means Blacksburg police wait one to nine months for results.
“When it’s a major case like a murder or shooting, the Roanoke western region lab pushes it up in front of other crimes,” said Blacksburg Police Sgt. Thomas Sarver. “But how fast you get a report depends upon what other cases come in as well.”
Sgt. Sarver has another gripe about television police shows: They’re so violent.
“Television police are always doing risky things, always having shootouts,” he said. “That is what we want to avoid. We keep cover and we try to get the suspect to surrender. We’ll work with him on the scene for hours before we go in. The most valuable tools we have are our minds and mouths. Our goal is to have everyone — including the suspect — leave the scene alive.”
Like many other Blacksburg police officers, Sgt. Sarver has never had to fire his gun at a human being. In fact, in his nearly two decades of service, he can’t remember a fellow Blacksburg officer shooting at anyone, he said.
During the citizens academy, participants don’t focus much on weapons, although they learn that officers are authorized to use Glock 22 and 23, .40 caliber handguns, as well as Glock 43 9mm handguns and shotguns of various makes. They also carry nightsticks, tasers and pepper spray on their belts.
Academy participants help with searching the crime scene and questioning the victims on the spot. They’re involved in what Capt. Nathan O’Dell calls “on-the-ground police work” — interviewing and re-interviewing victims and witnesses as they look for inconsistencies — that moves the case ahead while the lab work is being done.
The course culminates in “taking down” the suspect at his drug lair near the Virginia Tech Airport. Class participants are given a quick instruction on the tear-gas-launching gun they are going to fire: “Put on your googles, brace yourself, line up the red dot in the scope, and pull the trigger. Oh, be sure you don’t hit the officer’s car.”
Then they take turns firing — 10 rounds in all. There is no trail of white fumes, no cloud of smoke, no crying. It is a fake tear gas canister aimed at a fake suspect who’s actually a Blacksburg police officer in a black hoodie.
Fairly soon — because it’s snowing and everyone is shivering — the suspect puts his hands on his head and comes out. The SWAT team lowers their weapons and piles into the SWAT van — after quietly managing a crisis Blacksburg citizens will never need to worry about.
The Citizens Police Academy is held each spring for Montgomery County residents. Virginia Tech fraternity officers as well as the Virginia Tech basketball team participate in shorter versions to enhance understanding and cooperation between the Virginia Tech community and the Blacksburg police.
Citizens academy participant John Sills said he joined the class to see why Blacksburg has such a relatively large police force for a small town. “But after seeing what Blacksburg police officers do, I know what an asset it is to Blacksburg,” he said. “This police department brings value to the community.”
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