Bellefontaine Citizens Police Academy has busy week six class

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The Bellefontaine PD hosted the 6th session of their Citizens Police Academy Thursday evening. 

The evening kicked off with a presentation from the Logan & Champaign Counties Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). The CIT representative, Adam Sorensen, handed out statistics about local suicide rates. Shockingly, the average age of suicide is 11-20 years of age. Sorensen explained that it takes an integrated team of individuals to help in a mental health crisis and that his office works closely with officers to get them the training they need to handle the situation.

The bulk of the evening consisted of a brief look at ALICE training. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. Officer Walters explained to the class that this method is used across the country when it comes to active shooter or threat situations in schools, churches, malls, and many other destinations. Nationwide, in the last 10 years, there have been over 200 active shooter events across the country. The average event lasts only 8 minutes and someone is shot every 10 seconds. ALICE teaches skills that save lives and even could help stop the crisis. Walters told the class to be prepared, aware, and ready for what they have to do to survive any active shooter situation.

Officer Allen Huffman explained to the class why traffic collision investigation is important. Huffman explained that every collision is a crime scene, someone is at fault and will be ultimately cited. Huffman also explained that insurance companies rely on their reports as well and that reports are their way of knowing who was at fault and exactly what happened, without having to be on the scene. Interestingly, traffic collision reconstructions are methodically worked backward from the end to the beginning of the sequence of events, and oftentimes, even further.

Next week’s class will include a presentation from the Citizens Police Academy Alumni and Detective, Dwight Salyer. He will detail investigation strategies.