On September 5th, I had the pleasure of traveling to Greensboro, NC to attend the first day of
Writer’s Police Academy. What is Writer’s Police Academy (WPA)? Great question! To quote their website (because they define it best) “The Writers’ Police Academy offers the most hands-on, interactive and educational experience writers can find to enhance their understanding of all aspects of law enforcement and forensics. This is a one of a kind event, featuring real police, fire, and EMS training at an actual police academy. Top instructors and experts!”
They simulated a high speed felony stop
The experts ranged from active duty police officers, firemen, Fire Marshall EMS, detention supervisor, Chief of Police, Sherriff, undercover agents to federal agencies such as secret service and ATF. The expertise didn’t stop there either. Professors and leading experts in their field also gave workshops and lectures on forensics psychology, forensic anthropology, DNA, and micro-organisms.
Building searches was so much fun. Our instructor, Captain R.B. Sheppard (pictured on the right) led our class through the techniques on how to correctly search a room for bad guys. My team (pictured on the left) was awesome.
I also got to attend a FATS (Firearms Simulation Training) session. This was an interactive “live fire” workshop where I was issued a Glock and allowed to point it at a projection screen and shoot bad guys. HOW FUN IS THAT?!? Sorry, I don’t have a picture of me in this workshop to show you. 🙁 But trust me, I didn’t kill any innocents (didn’t exactly kill any bad guys either, but, hey, you can’t win them all).
During the driving simulator, I became an EMS Ambulance driver, attempting to navigate through a city to find victims of auto accidents. I did really good and managed not to crash or hit any cars in the different scenarios.
(Beside me is an EMT in-training, who had the misfortune of walking in the room in full uniform. He got drafted to be my partner for this photo)
I am definitely planning on going back as soon as I can…hopefully next year. The contacts I had exposure to and the hands on experience I gained could not be beat.
For more pictures and descriptions, visit my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/padepaul I have three posts chronicling my days at WPA.