The Westfield Citizen’s Police Academy overviewed patrol officer techniques and tactics and demonstrated hands-on some of the equipment used while on duty.
Sergeant Jeff Baillargeon informed the class about basic patrol procedures. The patrol officers are the largest division in the Westfield Police Department and there is coverage of the city at all times.
In 2014 the department handled 43,627 calls, issued 6,936 citations, and arrested 721 people citywide. These numbers were a drop from 2013.
Sergeant Baillargeon said he looked at it as a positive thing that numbers were going down, because some people criticized the department as not doing enough.
The numbers of calls were not necessarily a bad thing, said Sergeant Baillargeon.
“Calls to aid citizens are a big one for our department,” he said.
The calls to the police department ranged from complaints about neighbors, to domestic abuse, to frozen water pipes.
Patrol officers’ vehicles are equipped with a range of tools that are issued to address as many calls as possible.
Each cruiser has a radio, a first aid kit, and an automatic external defibrillator (AED) – a life-saving tool that measures the heart rate and can send an electric charge to restart the heart.
Cruisers are stocked at all times with a patrol rifle, stinger spike system, and a mobile data terminal, which can access a database that may hold a history of the person being pulled over.
Each patrol officer has a bulletproof vest, latex gloves, magazine, a quick-clot/tourniquet, and flashlight, in addition to their duty belt which holds everything from a Taser and pepper spray to handgun to handcuffs.
Mindset was the most important thing to that patrol officers carry with them, said Baillargeon.
“Alertness, decisiveness, positivity, self-control and determination are all essential to the job,” he said.
“You can’t lose your temper out there. Don’t turn it personal. Once you get on their level, you degrade from there,” said Baillargeon in reference to some of the trickier calls he has had to respond to.
“The situation is going to go the way you want it to when you pull up to the scene,” he said. “Each call is a new issue and needs to be treated that way.”
He said that sometimes it is hard to decompress. Someone may have died at the scene before and the next is a complaint about dogs barking, but to that caller that’s the biggest thing going on for them right then and there.
“Every caller is under the influence. It may not be drugs or alcohol, but it can be anger, sadness, or confusion,” said Baillargeon.
Baillargeon explained to the class that the level of force used by an officer was determined by the behavior of others engaged. A situation could change from passive to aggressive and back to aggressive. Compliancy of the situation is dependent on the officers’ attitude, as well as a person’s ability to react in a given situation.
“Even if it’s fun or funny it’s never fun to arrest someone,” said Baillargeon.
This, of course, leads an enormous amount of paperwork, but at the same time an officer is depriving someone of their liberties.
For the next half of the class Baillargeon passed around the duty belt and several of the different types of unloaded guns. This included a handgun, a pistol, M16 rifle, and a semi-automatic M4 carbine.
The class was instructed on how to properly handcuff someone, and Baillargeon let a pupil handcuff him under Sergeant Eric Hall’s watch.
Baillargeon was very well-versed in his knowledge of the department. He clarified that even if people expect it to be chaos like an episode of Cops, his main objective is to answer as many calls as possible in order to help people when they need it most.
Erika Hayden is a WSU student, citizen journalist and grassroots writer.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of this publication.
