TAMPA, Fla. — At a center off 34th Street, fresh Tampa Police officers are getting lessons in the classroom, in the field and on the shooting range. It's part of the agency's continued training to prepare academy grads to handle any call that may come their way.
Before they’re out patrolling the city, “they're gonna have at least a year of [additional] training under their belts,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said.
Chief Bercaw says this year, the department hopes to hire and train 100 new officers for the growing department. On Wednesday, TPD gave members of the media a crash course on some of the things they’ll be doing to give the public a better understanding of how officers are taught to approach the job.
“We get training on conflict resolution, verbal de-escalation, and how to properly use each tool on the belt to provide the best service possible,” TPD Recruiting Officer Stephon Filer explained.
For months, officers learn from seasoned, retired officers through lectures, discussions, hand-to-hand training and much more.
“Having a glimpse of what we do is part of being transparent. And we spend a ton of time training and de-escalation is very important to us, but, unfortunately, there are going to be situations that de-escalation won't help,” Bercaw said.
10 Tampa Bay got a glimpse of how those calls can turn dangerous quickly and the methods that officers run through before deciding to use force.
"Means, opportunity, intent," is the checklist to determine if a person can and may harm themselves, an officer or member of the public.
After being suited up with a helmet, belt, vest and a training pistol, 10 Tampa Bay reporter Aaron Parseghian was put in a cruiser and conducted a traffic stop on two officers running a realistic simulation.
The simulations included the officers acting cooperative and friendly, others included them immediately pulling weapons and firing, and that’s where the extensive training gets put into practice.
A balance of not overreacting but not underreacting is being weighed by officers on every single call. Leaders say while they are aiming to grow the force, they are making sure they do so with qualified and well-trained candidates who want to better the community.
“When people get a badge it just magnifies the person you are. So if we can magnify good people in this profession, I think we've done our job as recruiters,” Filer added.
Part of TPD’s hiring efforts includes the “30x30” campaign, they aim to have 30% of the force be women by 2030.