PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — In just the last two weeks, we have reported on two law enforcement-involved shootings where investigators say officers were shot at unexpectedly within seconds of arriving on scene.
The first happened nearly two weeks ago in Indian River County, when Sgt. Terri Sweeting-Mashkow was shot and killed while serving an eviction notice.
WATCH: WPTV tries out shooting simulator
The second took place Monday night, when Sgt. Erik Levasseur with the Port St. Lucie Police Department was responding to a dispute between neighbors and was shot twice in the face.
To try and understand what officers face in the field, WPTV's Kayla McDermott went through a simulator that agencies use for training at Palm Beach State College to get as close to a real scenario as possible.
The simulation is very stressful and is supposed to be high stakes, causing some cadets who go through it intense anxiety.
"This job isn't cut out for everybody," said Rick Morris, a retired deputy chief who now runs the police academy at the school.
The training exercise puts officers in scenarios where they have mere seconds to decide what to do when a suspect refuses to lower their weapon. In one simulation, an officer had to pull the trigger during a scenario where a suspect wouldn't comply.
"Officers don't have a chance to react. They're attacked within seconds," Morris said.
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The simulation offers 400 different scenarios based on real-life situations.
"Hostage situations, domestics, mental health situations," said Randy Hoffer, an adjunct professor at PBSC and former police captain who runs the simulator.
Trying for herself, McDermott went through a scenario involving a disturbance in a home where a man would not leave. It quickly turned violent with no time for her to react when a man in a wheelchair suddenly drew his gun, shooting everyone in less than a second.
"In that particular case your partner got killed, you got killed, and so did the homeowner. That's how fast that happens," Hoffer said.
WPTV photographer Jackson Gaylor, after watching McDermott fail the scenario, tried for himself. Even though he knew what was going to happen, he still was unable to save his partner — there was just not enough time.
In another situation, when a man was reaching for a gun during a traffic stop, McDermott could not unholster her weapon before a suspect fired. It's something Morris said, "Happens, it happens a lot," as officers have to release a safety strap before they can draw their weapon.
In the last scenario, McDermott was hit by an unseen suspect in the tree line when responding to a home invasion. It all happened in a matter of seconds.
"It's very stressful, it becomes very difficult to determine what the situation is going to be," Hoffer said.
He went on to say the simulator is one of the best ways officers can prepare for what it's like out in the field.
"If somebody's already made a decision that they're going to shoot, they have a distinct advantage over us," Hoffer said.
When asking Morris what he hopes the general public takes away from seeing this experience, and how little time officers truly have out in the field, he emphasized the complexity they face.
"It's not a police officer going with a gun to shoot somebody. It's a police officer reacting to something that could be fatal to himself or others," Morris said. "Officers aren't going in with the intent to kill people. Once that does happen, it affects them emotionally. For us, their life, it's something that never goes away. No one wants to take a human life, no one."
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