This week’s episode of the Northeast Newscast is a digital follow up to our "Shoot or don’t shoot" editorial piece in this week’s edition of The Northeast News. Publisher Michael Bushnell ran through KCPD’s OIS (Officer Involved Shooting) simulation in August. The simulation re-creates three separate scenarios in which police officers are faced with a shoot, don’t shoot scenario.
KCPD Firearms Training Instructor Sergeant Ward Smith and Training Unit Commander Captain Brian Bartch facilitated the simulation event for a diverse cross section of fifteen media representatives and community leaders from across the city including Nick Haines from KCPT, Channel 19, Joe Arce, Publisher of Kansas City’s Hispanic News, David Slater, Mayor of Pleasant Valley, MO and Executive Director of the Clay County Economic Development Council and Stacey Johnson-Crosby, a South Kansas City Real Estate Agent.
OIS simulations, according to KCPD Chief Rick Smith, are a way for citizens to experience what officers experience on a daily basis, even if only for a split second. That split second however could be the difference in life or death.