'The goal is to de-escalate:' Behind the scenes of St. John County Sheriff's Office recruiting training – Action News Jax

“We're trying to make sure that we have the best, most advanced and technically advanced training that we can give to our new recruits and current employees,” said Lt. George Harrigan. “Our training team is here. We have a driving track. We have a range of facilities. We have a defensive tactics room, technology-based training and VR simulators. Anything you can imagine, we do here in this facility.

Action News Jax's Meghan Moriarty visited the training center off I-95 and SR-16. She had the chance to take two hours of what's called “high-responsibility training” to see what it means to be in a deputy's shoes and how doing it in a controlled environment can help defuse high stress situations.

“There are rare situations where someone escalates, and we have to respond to that and sometimes that can involve the use of force,” Lt. Harrigan said.

Using deadly force is not the first or only thing a deputy trains for. Arguably one of the most important training tactics doesn't involve weapons or vehicles.

“It’s important to note that we don’t train for the worst case scenario every time. Our goal is to deescalate the situation with minimal to no use of force,” Lt. Harrigan said. “A lot of what we do is practice de-escalation with our words and actions and just talking to people. »

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They use virtual reality simulators so law enforcement and recruits can practice handling a situation. Just like in real life, the trainee doesn't know what will be thrown at them.

“Training for law enforcement or in general creates a controlled environment where we can go through the representatives,” Lt. Harrigan said. “We can go through scenarios.”

Some scenarios involve a suspicious person. Others involve a home visit for a domestic violence incident. Then the trainee and trainer discuss how the virtual situation was handled and other ways to approach the situation.

“We can create stress, work through it and make mistakes in a controlled environment,” Lt. Harrigan said. “Let's learn from these mistakes so that we don't make them openly, in public, in a real-life scenario. »

The Sheriff's Office is currently hiring. Starting salaries range from $55,000 to $57,750. You can apply here. You can also connect with a recruiter by emailing [email protected].

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