Research at the FBI Citizens' Academy

So I'm in the Indianapolis FBI Citizens' Academy and loving it. But I'm sure those who know me are far from surprised :-)

The evenings are often filled with lectures about different efforts of the local office from gangs to white collar crime to terrorism and violent crimes. This week's session was very interesting. The first hour focused on the application of the use of deadly force policy. As an attorney, I loved the parsing of phrases and figuring out how to apply that to real life situations. It really was an eye-opening session.


But the best part was when they walked us across the street to a conference room where they'd set up a training simulator that they use with FBI agents. One at a time we were handed a modified Sig 228, which was hooked into a machine that somehow read where we shot and told us if we'd hit, nicked or missed the moving target. There were approximately 20 different scenarios that they ran us through. In each case the student was supposed to decide whether to use deadly force and then attempt to shoot.


I bracketed my guy and probably winged him -- not terrible considering I've never held anything more than a paint ball gun. But it was interesting to watch my response and the response of my classmates. One gal nailed her bad guy. This guy was not getting back up. But the rest of us gals for the most part bracketed and nicked them.


While an interesting exercise, it also reinforced how much is affected by how someone responds. In these video scenarios, the bad guys weren't actually responding to our shots. I would think that would change in real life.


Anyway, I continue to love this experience. I've decided I fall firmly into the geek category as I take detailed notes about everything. I just never know when I'll get to use some tidbit or other in a book.