Crime & Safety

Waukesha Citizens Academy: I Drove a Squad Car

Making traffic stops is not as easy as it looks.

For those of you who have been unfortunate enough to see my mean side, well, you know it is not too intimidating

So when Police Officer Brad Becker told me I had to take charge of a traffic stop and deal with the suspect who was yelling at me and being a downright punk, it was not the easiest thing in the world.  

By not the easiest thing in the world, I really mean I would make a horrible cop. I do believe at one point I held up my finger and gave a firm “No” to the obnoxious driver.

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Basically, I fell apart and would have had a big fat “F” if I was getting graded.

A chaotic traffic stop. A jumpy “police officer” (that's me). A car full of people who at any point and time could pull out a weapon or run or punch me or who knows what. It’s a good thing it was just the and it wasn’t real life.

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On the plus side, I didn’t have a gun – albeit a fake – pulled on me like some others in our class. And I did get to drive the squad car with lights and a little bit of siren. No, not on the road, which could be because the police department is well aware of my occasional lead foot. After all, even Becker was the trainer of a new officer who pulled me over one night. That time I was not speeding, though.

This week’s Waukesha Citizens Academy was painless compared to But it was still eye-opening to learn what police officers have to watch for when doing traffic stops. The risk becomes greater when there are more people in the car, and in my situation, I definitely would have called for back up.

One of the younger ladies in our class posed a question: “Does anybody take the Citizens Academy class and come out of it thinking that they want to be a police officer and decide on a career change?”

Not as far as the officers who were in our small group knew. While the class has been phenomenal at letting citizens into the department, to learn how it operates and to hear explanations of how things work and why. But, it doesn’t mean I’m planning on being a police officer.

I’ll leave that to the men and women wearing the blue.


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