Cape CopCast
Welcome to "The Cape CopCast," the official podcast of the Cape Coral Police Department.
Hosted by Officer Mercedes Simonds, and Lisa Greenberg from our Public Affairs team, this podcast dives into the heart of Cape Coral PD's public safety, community initiatives, and the inner workings of our police department. Each episode brings you insightful discussions, interviews with key community figures, and expert advice on safety.
Cape CopCast
Chief's Chat #10: New Training Center, Motors School & Traffic Safety
In this edition of the Cape CopCast "Chief's Chat," host Lisa Greenberg talks to Chief Anthony Sizemore about our new police training center, which is having it's grand opening soon. The new center includes a shooting range and simulation environments that are redefining police training. Learn how the integration of these resources not only enhances training efficiency but offers a cost-effective solution by centralizing all training activities within the city. We also talk about the Motors School and training happening this week and the rigorous obstacle courses they go through, designed to prepare motorcycle officers for the high demands of traffic enforcement, ensuring their readiness and safety on the roads. We also tackle critical issues surrounding road safety, reflecting on a recent tragic motorcycle accident and a crash involving a medical episode.
This episode ends by highlighting the heroic actions of one of our School Resource Officers, who saved a baby's life during a traffic stop.
Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Cop cast chiefs chat edition. I'm one of your hosts, lisa Greenberg, with the public affairs office. Mercedes is off today, so it's just going to be me and you today, chief. Let's do it how you doing. I'm great. How are you? Good? It's been like a busy week, but I feel like most of the things that we've had to deal with this week are dealing with internal communication, so it's nice to take a break and do something like this here on the podcast and talk to the people of Cape Coral A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:One thing I really wanted to touch on is we're getting really close with our training center. Our training unit has moved out of this building.
Speaker 2:They're out there in the building. It's exciting we we've been down there. I'm last. The 10th was 27 years that.
Speaker 1:I've been here.
Speaker 2:And it's one of the most exciting things that's happened in almost three decades being here where it was a dream, it was a concept and now it's real and our training staff is in the building. They're still doing some punch list items, but the construction team is, but our guys are in there. The training's already designed, it's starting. We're funneling people through. We haven't done a grand opening yet because we want to get a little flow in there, but, man, is it really something to have people in there and delivering on what we said we were going to deliver, which is a world-class training in a world-class facility to give world-class service to our world-class city? How about that?
Speaker 1:That's perfect. You know, it's interesting too, because it's been so long since I've even been there. I'm excited to go and look at it. But for people who maybe aren't aware of all of the things that are involved with the training center, there's going to be a shooting range. There's so many different aspects of this. Can you go into that a little bit Sure?
Speaker 2:So it's really a 360 view of training where there's classroom with state-of-the-art technology, there's a defensive tactics room, there's what you would almost call a Hogan's Alley room where there's a modern movable wall system.
Speaker 2:So within a warehouse environment, there's a track system on the ceiling with walls that come down that you can move and recreate anything from a shopping center to a single family home, three bedroom, two bath type home, and you can run a simunition and simulated drills in there.
Speaker 2:So it's real speed of life training so that when our officers go out into the street they can, they've already replicated what they're going to see on the street in the building Very cool. And then the actual shooting range there's a driving course within then the actual shooting range there's a driving course within you know low-speed driving course within the property. So everything that we used to farm out and go all over the city or all over the county and sometimes even into Hendry County to do, we're able to do in the city where there's a rapid turnaround of getting people out there, a cost savings on wear and tear on vehicles and fuel and paying our people to go all over. You're losing the drive time. It's still the same amount of taxpayer money that you're paying people and really just the environment that we're in to be able to train. It's really world-class. There's people coming from all over the country to instruct, to be instructed, and it's really a benefit to all of us.
Speaker 1:I'm looking forward to being able to go inside and take videos of it and be able to show our community everything it has to offer. It looks really cool from the last time I was there too, so it's just it's really exciting. One of the other things that we have going on right now is we actually are hosting a motors school for motors officers.
Speaker 2:Speaking of training, yeah, right, right. So we have a motor school, which is a obstacle course that you put motorcycle officers through and if you have a motorcycle endorsement here in Florida, you've had to do some kind of a course. This course is so much more than that. There's been experienced riders who have ridden motorcycles for years that there's no way they can get through this course. They've said uncle and quit halfway through. It's very challenging because it's not a weekend warrior riding their motorcycle or commuting or pleasure riding.
Speaker 2:This is full-time, 40-hour a week, in the traffic conditions that need attention. You're in the zone 8, 10, 12 hours per shift on a motorcycle. You've got to be one with the machine, know the limitations, know what it can do, what it can't do, what you can do and what you can't do to be safe, because it's a dangerous job riding a police motorcycle For sure. So we have have to, I have to know that you can handle it and and you can go off on your own, still worried about you, still concerned, but just have that degree of confidence. So it's really impressive to see what they do, what they go through on that bike. They maneuver a thousand pound, gigantic motorcycle like it's a BMX bicycle.
Speaker 1:It's so cool. I've seen some of the videos come out from the school this week and just the courses that they have set up. I mean it looks tough. I've never ridden a motorcycle in my life and I just can't even imagine being able to do this. Don't start there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, no, definitely not If you graduate that you will have the confidence, the skills and the ability to go out and ride anywhere.
Speaker 1:It's impressive? For sure it is. I know a couple of our guys are participating who are not currently in the motors unit but are trying to be in the motors unit, and you know we're adding positions to that as part of our growth plan.
Speaker 2:We are. It's a class for existing riders to stay sharp and fresh and we also use it as a tryout, essentially for new. If you're going to join that elite unit, you got to be ready. And speaking of what you just said, growth we talked about it a couple of weeks ago, about Project 35, the growth plan that we have.
Speaker 2:We are developing the budget right now for fiscal year 2026. We just turned into 2025 on the calendar, but fiscally that year begins October 1st of this year. So 10-1 of 25 in the budget world is actually 1-1 of 26. There's a lot of planning and work and development between the department, our growth plan, giving that to our partners in finance and elected officials who represent you, the public, to deliver on all the things that we share as a priority. And one of those things that we share as a priority is increasing the footprint of traffic enforcement, and our motorcycles play a giant role in that. So we are growing that unit to keep pace with the need today, but also the needs tomorrow, and we need more representation in our motors unit. It's a great way to impact behavior on our roadways, is a motor unit and we've had it for years, got a good reputation with it and we're going to continue to expand it.
Speaker 1:For sure. I mean, just seeing those motors officers doing their job is enough to get people to slow down right.
Speaker 2:And we're just going to keep growing with that. And then you go out and you aggressively enforce bad drivers, aggressive drivers, red light runners, aggressive drivers, red light runners, distracted driving any of the top five causes of crashes out there. If you can attack it and develop that reputation that I better not do that because they could be around any corner. It really does influence and curb behavior.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I know a lot of people traffic is kind of top of mind for them right now. We have been reporting some pretty serious crashes that have happened and I think it's just a good reminder for people that we are out there, we are enforcing this, we are getting ahead of it, we're working hard, we're adding more positions to continue to further improve traffic enforcement as well.
Speaker 2:Sure and you're kind of a victim of success in your world. Right, you and Mercedes. You put out the information because we want to be transparent, but we want to help you. It's beyond words like transparent. You're getting ready for work and you got to take your kids to school and time is of the essence. And then you look on your phone and ah, there's a crash. It's to help you be able to navigate where you're going.
Speaker 2:Not every traffic alert that we put out is a major crash investigation or a fatality. Sometimes it's just an inconvenience where there's a fender bender in front of a school and it's to help you. So there's a lot of eyeballs on it. So I understand it, and sometimes that can alter perception of really what's going on.
Speaker 2:There have been a handful of serious crashes that have happened and some of the easy, low-hanging fruit that you would get is well, why aren't you out there doing more? What are you guys doing? For number one, we're out there. I can show you the overtime budget that we have and the grant funding that we've talked about, but some of these are not exactly what you think they are right. They're tragic cases. This one in particular we'll talk about, but we had one earlier this week where no speed involved, no drugs or alcohol, a medical condition single vehicle crash driving down the road. A busy road, heavily traveled road experiences. A medical condition goes off the road. A busy road, heavily traveled road experiences. A medical condition goes off the road, hits a pole and tragically, they succumb to their injuries.
Speaker 2:But when we put it out, serious traffic crash on the parkway People jumped to conclusions that it's snowbirds, it's older folks, it's kids, it's motorcycles, it's speeding, they must have ran a red light or the police aren't doing anything. And none of those things are the case in this particular case. And we had one, a tragic one, a couple of nights ago 18 years old, on a motorcycle, not speeding, not doing, you know, 120 miles an hour, ripping it down Veterans Parkway or any of the things that people hear and immediately assume oh, it had to be that. Or the riding community, it had to be somebody driving and somebody, not paying attention, pulled out and hit him. Not the case, it was a single vehicle accident, maybe attributed to experience. Nonetheless, a young, vibrant life was lost on the roadways.
Speaker 1:It's tragic, it's horrible.
Speaker 2:But the conclusion jumping is sometimes not helpful not for us. I mean, we have thick skin, we can handle it. But there's a lot of people who monitor that. That's their family, that's their impacted loved ones, and it's just not true. So that's just something for people to kind of keep in the back of your mind, that it's not always what you think, but in the end it's a life lost on our roadways. It's tragic. We need to have the requisite amount of staffing to be able to investigate it and do that family justice, to find out what happened and what, if anything, can be done to mitigate any future recurrence of that.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:How do we keep that from happening again? Unfortunately, medical events or just somebody on a motorcycle who had a singular accident, some of those things just happen, right Right. There's no behavior modification for medical events or gaining experience on a bike, but there are things that can be done with the old stock and barrel, running red lights and aggressive driving and whipping in and out of traffic, and I can tell you we do. Hundreds and hundreds of traffic stops, citations every day on that.
Speaker 2:So that is one component of it, but there is another big component in roadway safety, and that's personal responsibility, exactly.
Speaker 1:We all need to. You know you mentioned this in a prior podcast so I don't want to wax on about it. But you know it's that personal responsibility of yeah, you're rushing to get to work but running that red light is only going to save you maybe a minute and it could put other people in danger or yourself in danger. Or picking up your phone and answering that text. It might seem urgent but you know, in the amount of time that you just reach, pick it up and read it, you could crash right into someone and and hurt yourself or others. So it's just not worth it.
Speaker 2:We have to take that personal responsibility. It's been many years since I've done traffic enforcement as a street cop, but when I did, I used to ask people once you know the initial tactical part is over and we're having a conversation, it's you know who, who in your life is counting on you to get to work, or get to where you're going to pick them up, or, when you're done, to be able to come and see you at the end of the day, or who's counting on you. And that's the person that I would like people to think of when they're driving, because it could be enough to modify your own behavior 100%.
Speaker 1:I do want to end this on a positive note because we did have something pretty incredible that we recognized this week. The actual incident itself happened in December, but we were able to give one of our officers a life-saving award and this is actually blown up on social media. People are just. They love this story. One of our school resource officers was driving and noticed a car was kind of driving erratically, so he stopped and the person inside was saying that their child, their baby, was having a medical issue and Officer Anzalone saved this baby's life was having a medical issue and Officer Anzalone saved this baby's life.
Speaker 2:A lot of layers to this story. First of all, somebody driving erratically and we did a traffic stop. That's kind of from the previous segment, right. That's great, I'm happy with that. But all kidding aside, you got Anzalone, who's no stranger, who our social media page is for awards. He's a superstar at Pelican Elementary School. The kids love him, the staff loves him, we love him, and he's not even at the school, sees something, takes action on a traffic violator. You know why is this person driving erratically? And then you come to find out well, their baby is not breathing and to shift gears and scoop the kid up and perform life-saving measures and bring that kid back to life.
Speaker 1:Amazing, I mean number one.
Speaker 2:that's the brand for Chris Anzalone, that's him. Number two, the fact that it's blown up on social media. You got a handsome cop, works with kids. A fan favorite, saves a baby. The only thing missing is if he had like a puppy on his shoulder.
Speaker 1:I know right.
Speaker 2:It's just awesome and I had him in earlier in the week to award him and just talk to him and it was nice because I've had the award speech, if you will, with Chris before, because he's been recognized for great work in the past. But what he's done I told him just on a conversation. Like buddy, I wish I had 10 more of you. You know, you come to work with the right attitude. You put our vision, which is to be the best, and our mission, to partner with the community to do that. Simple as that. Right, we want to be the best. And how do you do that? You partner with the people to make everybody feel safe and just go be the cop that you want your family to get if they ever need one, right, right, the old golden rule with a little blue on it. And that's him. And it was really nice to just sit down with him and thank him. And what a great story, what a great way to wrap up the week.
Speaker 1:He's great, yeah, one of the best, for sure.
Speaker 2:Got a lot more. Just like Chris, you just don't hear about it all the time, but it's a great place to be and it was awesome being here to talk to everybody for yet another week Awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate you taking the time, as always, and we will catch you next time. Have a good one.
