LSU Police Department officers don’t take their jobs lightly, and they feel the same way about their training.
Wednesday marked the beginning of this year’s defensive tactics training for LSUPD officers. Officers gathered at the LSU Rifle Range in St. Gabriel for eight hours of training, which involved learning how to assess and handle encounters with actively resistant suspects.
Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSUPD spokesman, said every officer in the department is required to take the course at least once a year.
“It’s basically a self-defense course for police officers, and it teaches officers ways to apprehend suspects in the safest possible way not only for the suspect but also for the officer,” Tabor said. “We take our training very seriously.”
Tabor said LSUPD complies with the Monadnock Defensive Tactics System — an international law enforcement education program.
Officers learned performance techniques ranging from basic to advanced, including soft and hard empty-hand techniques.
Soft empty-hand techniques, like blocking, involve minimal force and are intended for suspects who comply with the officer, Tabor said, while hard empty-hand techniques, like striking, require increased force and are intended for actively resistant suspects.
“The point is not to inflict pain. The point is to control someone who is being combative,” Tabor said. “All of our protocol and techniques are governed by the use of force continuum. What response we apply is governed by the continuum.”
The use of force continuum is a set of guidelines for assessing what level of force may be used against a resisting subject in a particular situation.
“We have to assess the situation we have at hand and try to control it,” Tabor said. “We may go somewhere where a student has a gun and we need to enter that use of force continuum at a deadly force level.”
Tabor said the officers enjoy the course.
“It gives officers the confidence to be able to do their job properly,” he said. “If they find themselves in a dangerous or compromising position, they have the ability to protect themselves and others.”
Tabor said people forget police officers put their lives on the line every day.
“Often times people don’t realize that for police officers, we are sort of in a war every day,” he said. “It’s one of the only jobs I know where we come to work and we don’t know if we’re going to make it home at night.”
A common misconception is that LSUPD officers hold positions similar to security guards, Tabor said.
“Just because we are on a campus environment doesn’t mean we only encounter people affiliated with campus,” he said. “We encounter people from outside of campus on a daily basis. We always have to be prepared.”
Sgt. Jeffrey Lemoine, LSUPD officer and one of the defensive tactics instructors, said he hopes people can break away from the stereotype.
“We have never viewed ourselves as security guards. We get the same training as all the other police officers,” Lemoine said. “That’s why we take our training so seriously. We want to provide a professional police force.”
In light of recent school shootings in the U.S., Lemoine said the role of campus police is even greater.
“We are the first line of defense,” he said.
 
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Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]