Formal charges have been filed in the Faribault burglary case. The pair made it easy. 29 year old Emily Anne Wagner, left her wallet in the victim’s driveway. Inside was her identification along with a Gold MasterCard in the name of 33 year old Nathan William Quast. There was also a receipt from Menards for a crow bar. The 13 year old daughter, who was in the home alone at the time, identified Wagner.
The girl didn’t answer the door when the burglars came calling, she stayed in her bedroom. Wagner opened the door to her bedroom, spotted the girl, said ‘Oh’, and left. The door had been pried open and parts of the home had been rummaged through. Wagner and Quast were found in a hotel in Owatonna. 1st degree burglary is a felony and carries a sentence from 6 months to 20 years. Wagner complaint
RBT paramount to law enforcement
Reality Based Training, or RBT, is a priority for Rice County law enforcement. From local police departments to Sheriff’s deputies, this training offers them real life scenarios in which to hone their skills, heighten their awareness and learn some techniques that can keep themselves and the public safer. I was invited to observe the training. But before they let me in, I had to be searched just like the officers themselves. Everyone is patted down twice to make certain that the only “weapons” are the blanks they use in training. Deputy Trevor Peterson has been with Rice County for 7 years and became an instructor last year, having gone through many exercises himself. Instructors participate in the scenarios with each other before they have the students do them to make sure they’re achieving the goals they set out. They put them together with the thought of several different outcomes and discuss them with the actors. Northfield Chief Nelson commented, “they have to be very tightly scripted”. Instructors tell actors, “If the officer does this, here’s what eventually is going to happen, if at some point they do this, here’s how we want you to react, complying is one of them”. Some of the scenarios involved a person with a mental health crisis. Nelson said you can set those up in about 3 or 4 different outcomes, “does the officer close space and get too close immediately? The person will react one way. Do they take the time to try and communicate? All those different things might be written in by the instructors”. Immediately after the scenario is played out, the Instructor asks the student about what happened and what they did. There may be additional instruction or they’ll discuss how different reactions would play out. One officer I spoke with said this training is extremely important and one of the best they have throughout the year, “how we train is how we are on the street, so it means, basically, life or death”. One of the scenarios was a Castile type situation where the driver has a permit to carry. Each officer’s technique is slightly different and the actor responds to the officer. What was noticeable to Chief Nelson and 2 of the instructors this year, was the hesitation shown. Peterson said, “You can definitely see in the scenarios, which is interesting, the hesitation, whether or not they should do it or not. And part of that might be what’s been in the media recently. We’ve had people step back and forward, step back and forward, touch their gun and go off it again”. Another instructor commented… “these officers are going through these scenarios already on high alert, they’re already anticipating the unexpected, looking for the person hiding around the corner and for them to draw hesitation on a scenario just magnifies that much more that it is more prevalent than we’re admitting or that we want to see”. The idea of the training is to stress the officer and force decision-making. Peterson said after the training they ask officers what they liked, what they didn’t and to offer up any ideas on other types of scenarios and they’ll then try to incorporate those into the next training. One officer commented, “the medical was outstanding. All the scenarios were good. Everything was top shelf. I really enjoyed everything that we did here”. The importance of ongoing training was clear.
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Training safety and more
At the training exercise, safety is taken very seriously. Before anyone enters the training area, including instructors, actors, students and media, they must be searched twice. All participants are suited up to avoid injury and the weapons shoot blanks. Officers are reminded to loudly speak commands, if there’s compliance, all’s good. In the Castille scenario, there was also a passenger filming everything with her phone, while no threat, she was a distraction deliberately placed there. Traffic stops aren’t where officers normally draw their weapon, but once someone says they are carrying a gun, they should not hesitate. But more of the officers did this year. In the medical scenario, the downed person was an officer who had been shot. The suspect fled the scene but was surrounded by other officers. The student’s choice was to go for the suspect or go for the downed officer. All went to the officer, but they found him, not only bleeding, but unresponsive. They’re instructed as to when the ambulance will arrive, stopping the bleeding and the importance of chest compressions and/or keeping an airway open until medics arrive, was crucial. Bleeding, Air, Compressions. Minutes count. Another scenario was with someone who had a knife, when confronted by the officer (all of which had drawn their weapon as soon as they saw the knife) the suspect threw the knife but then went on the attack. Again, officers handled the situation differently, so the actor responded differently.
