Police driver training held at Dayton International Airport

What comes to mind when “Police Driving” is mentioned? Fast Acceleration? Screeching tires? Fast maneuvering? Pursuits?

For the average person, those are common visions of police driving. However, there are many facets of driving when it comes to law enforcement.

Firearms, Driving, and Defensive tactics are the three significant liability categories police administrators have to balance with training for their police officers. Each discipline is a specialty and essential training for police work.

In the past, firearms training was commonly the priority in training budgets. For the past ten years, roadway deaths have been the number one cause of line-of-duty deaths for police officers, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). One of the functions of ODMP is to track trends in officer deaths and to memorialize those officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their communities.

The week of April 8 brought us an eclipse and a meeting of local law enforcement agencies for driver training. The training was held at the Dayton International Airport. The agencies represented were the Police Departments (PD) from Huber Heights, Vandalia, Butler Township, Troy, Union, and Englewood.

According to Sergeant Michael Winterbotham of Huber Heights PD, six agencies participated, and approximately 179 officers were trained. Sgt. Joel Misirian of Troy PD was one of the instructors. The Troy PD has 44 sworn officers. Officers and administration from Troy Police, including Chief McKinney, participated.

Driver training focuses on utilizing the latest technology on police vehicle platforms. The driving events featured low-speed maneuverability initially, then gradually raising the speed to build officer confidence while driving.

Lieutenant Brandon Sucher of the Vandalia PD stated that the drivers' group has been training together since 2017. Combining resources eases the burden on those departments participating in the drivers' training. Tipp City PD is one of those departments. Tipp City provides vital resources such as traffic cones for the training.

The instructors worked throughout the day and night. Sgt. Hush and Officers Champ and Jinx with Huber Heights PD were at the airport from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., training officers assigned to evening and midnight shifts.

Sgt. Winterbotham stated that each department brings a resource to the training, such as an instructor or resources such as traffic cones or marking paint. One unique training tool was a baseball field marker to put down flour or chalk to mark the lanes or the driving events to enhance the training.

Sergeants Nagle and Flynn were two of the Vandalia PD instructors. Vandalia PD had specialized training for pushing disabled vehicles. They utilized the push bumpers on the patrol cars to remove disabled vehicles from the roadway, clearing the road quickly so regular traffic could resume.

Driving is one task officers do every day. Police administration is valuing the benefits of annual driver training.

Many Dayton area departments have implemented stopping tactics, such as tire deflation devices and the Precision Immobilization technique, or the PIT maneuver, to combat the growing trend of stolen cars.

Those advanced training techniques are built upon the basic skills practiced during this training session. Those skills are shuffle steering, braking in a straight line before a turn, and keeping a level platform. Proper hand placement on the steering wheel and the proper space cushion while operating in traffic.