FATS

My favorite activity at the Writers Police Academy was definitely FATS.  This is a computer simulated scenario used for training police officers.

Modified Glocks are used with the simulator.  The trainers showed us how to 'lock and load' and we were ready to go.  The computer plays different scenarios one at a time. 

My daughter, Jennifer, and I were partners.  One situation showed us off duty at a restaurant.  The chef strode out and threatened one of his diners - a judge who had apparently sent him to jail.  The chef pulled his hands out from under his apron and shot the judge where he sat.  It all happened so quickly, that there was no time to do anything but shoot.  When the chef is killed, the trainers play back the scene in order to show where your shots landed.  Jennifer hit the chef with a kill shot so quickly that you could still see the vapors from the muzzle of the chef's own gun.

Another scene found us in a scrap yard dealing with a guy on meth.  He was smashing a car with a tire iron.  I ordered him to throw down the weapon but he scampered onto the roof of the car and continued swinging.  I yelled various commands:  GET DOWN OFF THE CAR!  DROP THE WEAPON!  GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! 

In between orders, I muttered to my daughter:  I don't want to shoot this poor guy...  Do we have to shoot him?  I hope he lays down...

Suddenly, he leapt off the car and raced towards us.  Three shots and he was a goner.  Again, the replay showed Jennifer's kill shot.

One of the trainers said he was impressed that I recognized the tire iron as a weapon.  A lot of people don't seem to realize that it is a deadly object.  (If someone's coming after me with a tire iron - I'm gonna take him down!)  His comment surprised me.  How could anyone NOT think it was a weapon?

All in all, we had five different scenarios.  Two suspects actually listened to me and got down on the ground.  The other three were killed by my darling daughter.  Though my shots also hit the targets, I only wounded them.  She was dead on.

If I ever come across a bad situation in real life, I went Jennifer on my side!!