Police Academy Scenarios

[California6400]

Hey Everyone,

Iam currently attending the academy and this coming week we are having our first round of scenarios. I was wondering if anyone had any tips and past experiences that would help us all in passing these scenarios. I have pretty much prepared as much as I can, but I am still nervous about them. I know confidence is everything that I do and say is key in passing them. But would like any other adivce and or tips from others who have been through them recently.
Thank You in advance!

[cruz0311]

What most of our class did was get together ( as small groups) at someones house and go over the scenarios and how we would handle them. Remember officer safety and put out radio broadcast when you have to. Also be ready to identify the elements of the crime that you just handled. For us (LASD) we had 3 scenarios during our prelims. Hope this helps.

[LA DEP]

Some of the things the monitors are going to look for:

Communicate with your partner...have a plan...have a back up plan....

Officer safety.....always watch the hands

Make a decision....even if its the wrong one...you are expected to make mistakes......just not the same mistakes over and over....learn from them.....

Be able to articulate why you did what you did......one of my favorite games as a monitor is to ask the recruits (after they had handled the problem correctly) WHY they did X,Y,Z....and ask ARE YOU SURE you should have done it that way?....the monitors are going to force you to THINK

Know how to put out a basic crime broadcast....know your basic codes...you will use them during the scenarios...

[Fuzz]

The others have pretty much nailed it.

1 Officer safety
2 Know how to handle each call wether your dealing with a rape victim or a burg in progress
3 Know the elements of the crimes
4 SEARCH, SEARCH, SEARCH every suspect thoroughly

Good luck

[eagleI]

POST has so much training in advance they are hard to fail.
1. Review the scenario evaluation form from your book & know what the evaluator is looking for.
2. Practice: as an evaluator, I can tell who has gotten together in advance & practice. If you do that, you will sail thru them!
3. Mental preparation. Mentally imagine yourself going thru the scenario. Practice, mentally, running a person on the radio. Use yourself.
"Robert 3 can I get a 28/29 on a last of Smith, common, first of William, DOB 01-01-76".
4. Officer safety.
5. Communication: Ask for cover, call for cover, advise/direct responding/cover units.
6. Be able to articulate why you did what you did. (I conducted a pat search because the suspect kept putting his hands in his pockets and would not comply with my orders to keep his hands out of his pockets. I feared for my safety.)
7. Scenarios can actually be fun. (At least for the evaluators!) I often ask myself "WTF?" The place to make some simple mistakes is the academy.

[Ultimate86]

Which scenarios do you have? 5150, 245, Death Investigation, Ethics?

[EMVAMPYRE]

Well, I'll see you there and let you know how you did then! LOL

Seriously, take a deep breath and do what they taught you to do. Fuzz mentioned a rape. Keep that in mind.

[what the!?]

I agree with what everyone else said here.

Take your time and THINK!
review your evaluation grading sheets

radio traffic and officer safety.

Good luck!

[California6400]

Thanks for the advice regarding scenarios. It really helped.

Sorry for taking so long to reply to some of the questions.

The first round of scenarios that we were tested on were 5150, Ethics, Vehicle Pullover, Felony pullovers, Ped stop, suspicious person, building search, ambush, and crime in progress (211).Some of them were combined into 1 scenario which really helped.

We have a second round of scenarios of Deadly force, non deadly force, 273.5, felony assault invest, and death investigation that will be done the first week of March. 3 weeks prior to graduation.

I was nervous through them all but did pass them. Again, thanks for all the help and advice.

I know how to prepare for the remaining scenario tests. Thank You

[i8547]

Congrats on passing your scenarios. With your upcoming DV scenario, make sure you and your partner compute all the facts of the call in your heads before making that initial knock. Be thorough, be professional, be aware, and most of all, remain patient. Do not initially assume the male is the aggressor and be prepared for a possible same sex couple.

I had two DV scenarios back in the academy and we had curve balls thrown each time. The first was a female verbal aggressor on a male, who owned firearms that were visible in the "apartment" and on his person w/ a valid CCW. The second was a same sex couple where both were good to go. Both scenarios kept us on our feet and were the only two scenarios that weren't how we expected them to be going into them.

Having been a role player on several occassions since then for two So Cal academies, I can say that the DV calls are usually where your critical thinking skills are tested the most. So be ready to react quickly.

Good luck.