NSP recruits get a dose of reality in their training

After weeks of in-class work, recruits get out into the field to experience some near-real life situations.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KLKN) – As every new Nebraska State Trooper recruit goes through their training, there’s quite a bit of classwork, but nothing can prepare them for real life quite  like real life situations can do. While the latest part of their training may not be real, it’s very close.

The crashes may look nasty, with some very banged-up victims, but everybody walks away with no problem. They’re just simulations. The real world, though, doesn’t always work out that way.

“This just helps everybody get a feel for what it’s going to be like out on the road”, says Trooper Christopher Slocum.

These active crash scenes litter the streets that wrap through the Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island. Slowly, the scene clears, everyone resets, the victims get back to their places, and the process starts anew.

“Today so far has been a lot of coming up to accident scenes, dealing with injuries, dealing with multiple people coming up to the scene, how to react to that, how to keep calm under pressure”, explains recruit Sarah Evans.

They really don’t make it easy on these recruits, either. Bad rollover accidents, some of them fatal, are swarmed by well-meaning witnesses and family members, intent on distracting these recruits, all of them applying their studies for the first time.

“A couple weeks ago we started accident investigation class”, says Trooper Slocum. “Before that they had first aid and traffic control classes. This is just a culmination, today, of all that they’ve learned for those three classes.”

Despite all that prep work, this new experience really does change everything.

“It’s worlds different”, says Evans, “to sit in a classroom and talk about it and to actually have it happen in front of you and be expected to deal with it.”

Maybe it can bring some comfort to those of us out on the road, to see how much work goes into prepping these recruits for whatever life throws at them.