MOUNT VERNON — One of the biggest challenges police officers face is the unpredictability of the situations they encounter.
They respond quickly, frequently with limited and sometimes wrong information, and they deal with the fluctuations of human beings under stress.
To prepare for safe outcomes in rapidly unfolding and changing situations, officers undergo training exercises that simulate real-life events. The formal term is stress inoculation, and it’s designed to increase situational awareness.
Lt. Rex Young recently led such training on the grounds of Heartland Commerce Park. Officers from the Mount Vernon Police Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and Utica and Fredericktown police departments participated.
The scenarios are modeled on actual events that happened throughout the country.
“We use actual events because we want them to know these things really happen. It’s not just a made-up scenario,” Young said. “The training puts emotional attachment to it so they will recognize it in the future and also be able to control their emotions.
“The debriefing is where most of the instruction takes place when the officers review what happened.”
Young, who commands the MVPD’s Emergency Services Unit, said the training teaches officers to adjust to situations as they develop.
Conversely, officers also learn that something doesn’t always have to happen.
As one sheriff’s deputy put it, “It gets your brain thinking.”
“We try and put them in a position to make better decisions,” Young, a 15-year MVPD veteran, said. “We also try to prepare them to understand that the call they thought it was going to be can actually develop into something else. It teaches them not to be dead-set on the initial scenario.”
‘Tremendous value’
MVPD Lt. Andrew Burns said the department has done the training annually since 2018.
“Lt. Young, who has served with our department for 15 years, puts a great deal of effort into this training,” he said.
“The value of this training is tremendous, both to officers, the city, and the community.”
MVPD Lt. Andrew Burns
Young, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, builds the course, designs the curriculum, and works on the logistics. Logistics include coordinating with department members and other agencies, scheduling, and ensuring the MVPD maintains manpower for the street.
“Lt. Young assembles a team of seasoned officers who bring a variety of skills to the training, from self-defense instructors to driving trainers,” Burns said. “Their expertise adds to the training and to the evaluation and debriefing that is a vital part of the curriculum.”
Young collaborated with the State Attorney General’s Office to approve the training as part of the required training hours officers must have each year.
“Lt. Young’s training provides a path for law enforcement officers to enhance their skills while receiving credit for the course, and they can do it without sitting in front of a screen for all the required coursework,” Burns said. “This provides an opportunity for realistic situations and evaluations, all designed to improve response, reaction, and safer outcomes, both for the officer and the person(s) encountered.”
Young has received the MVPD’s Officer of the Year award and the Bartlett Award. He has also received several MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) awards.
He has been an instructor since 2014 and specializes in Use of Force, Subject Control, Scenario Based Training, De-Escalation, ASP, and Physical Fitness. He is a Certified Force Science Analyst.
