(regal music) VOICEOVER: The
following program contains explicit
language and images from law enforcement
active shooter training. Viewer discretion is advised. (Train horn blowing) COTANT: Back in the
'60's and '70's, my folks, they went to work,
I went to school. We left the house
unlocked. (laughs) I mean that was
just the way it was. NARRATOR: The
duties of a small town police officer never change. PRESTON: It's nice to
work in a smaller town, because you can have
the rapport with people and people can trust you.
OFFICER: Looks like a military.. NARRATOR: Patrol the streets, collect the facts,
find the crook. SPROCK: Everybody
knows everybody. And everybody's got an
opinion on what people do. NARRATOR: Make
people feel safe. Nothing's changed. TAYLOR: The level of crime today is different than
it was 20 years ago. 10 years ago. NARRATOR:
Everything's changed. The technology. OFFICER: You call us.
CITIZEN: Okay. NARRATOR: Public expectations,
training requirements. INSTRUCTOR:
You are scared to death. NARRATOR: Rules
of engagement. POLICE OFFICER:
Put the hammer down, or you're gonna get tased. NARRATOR: The
ferocity of the violence. (gun shots fired) URBANEK: So when you think
it's not gonna happen here, it is.
(sirens wail) We just don't know when. NARRATOR: A changing
job in a complex world. That's the reality of the
rural sheriff's deputy and the small town cop. OFFICER CHUCK MENEZES: Every TV
show I ever watched lied to me. 'Cause it was supposed
to be fun and exciting. This is the boringest
job there is. As a friend of mine said, with
five minutes of sheer terror. (tires scratch on pavement) NARRATOR: Four
full-time police officers handle law enforcement
in Mitchell, Nebraska. Seven days a week,
24 hours a day. There are a few part-timers,
called in in a pinch. MENEZES: Because you get a
lot of 'em that go, "You're just a small town cop." You get that a lot. What they don't understand, everybody goes through
the same training. It's all the same training. You deal with the
same situations. The only difference between
a big city, we're it. We're everything. NARRATOR: The crime
rate in surrounding Scotts Bluff County
is slightly higher than the state average. But in Mitchell, the
number of total crimes, mostly small stuff,
is well below 100. The last murder was in 2011. CHIEF MIKE COTANT:
Night shift has started
at 1600, four o'clock. Went out and did
two written warnings on vehicles with expired
plates on the streets. NARRATOR: Every morning,
police chief Mike Cotant runs through a log book to see what kept the
overnight officer busy. COTANT: Had an assist the
public, about a red Dodge Dakota in the high school parking
lot with its headlights on. That was about it for that day. NARRATOR: The chief
took over the department in Mitchell about
seven years ago. Before that, he served
as a reserve deputy in Scotts Bluff County. Later, in tiny Lyman, Nebraska, he got hired by an old
school police captain. COTANT: And he says, "Well I'll
see you on Thursday," so I come up Thursday evening, and gives me a set
of keys, and he says, "Here's your belt, and here's
a gun, and I'm going home." BILL KELLY:
How much training? COTANT: I did not have it. None. There was nothing. I didn't know the radio
codes, I didn't, you know, I was really, really shocked. Off we go. But we give them the
best that we can give. Like tonight, example, I, we should have another
officer on tonight, well we don't, so the chief
has gotta fill the boots. We know where our
trouble spots are. And we patrol that area a
little more than we do others, but you never know
what's gonna happen and where it's gonna happen. We look for car doors open, or vehicles that are not
known to be in that area. 200 Central. DISPATCHER: I got a 79. COTANT: 10-39, T-Tom 770. I have never seen that
vehicle around, so. I know just about
everybody in town. Unless they've just moved in,
or something of that nature, then I, but I try
to make it a point that I get out and
visit with people. What are you doing? CITIZEN: Totally driving
the speed limit. COTANT: Oh yeah, okay. CITIZEN: No. (laughs) COTANT: 'Cause they're your
eyes.
CITIZEN: Before we hit the city limits
COTANT: And they're your ears. CITIZEN: I take them.
COTANT: And they have a wealth of information
(Cotant laughs) that otherwise you
wouldn't know about. You guys need to go home, okay? We need to talk
to your mom, okay? GIRL: Okay. COTANT: They
just moved in up here. NARRATOR: A new mom in
town got a friendly reminder to keep her curious kids away
from the railroad tracks. Pulling into the trailer
park a few minutes later, the chief waves at
a familiar face, sensing something's wrong. COTANT: You okay, Tina? TINA: It's been a hard day. COTANT: Has it?
TINA: Yeah. COTANT: So what's been going on? And at that time, she
broke down, and says, "Oh, my husband,
Dale, he made comments "that the first
train missed him, "but the second one wouldn't." TINA: (crying) Now I
don't know where he's at. COTANT: Okay.
TINA: Okay. COTANT: Is he out walking? TINA: Yeah. COTANT: The pickup's there.
TINA: Yeah, he's out walking. COTANT: Okay.
TINA: And I think he's suicidal. COTANT: All right. I will look around
for Dale, okay? And if I find him
I'll bring him home. TINA: (crying) Oh, thank you.
COTANT: Okay? NARRATOR: The nightly
routine gets set aside. The search is on. COTANT: I just made
contact with a 10-12. She's advising that her husband has made some suicidal remarks and that he's off
his medications. So we're gonna be out
looking for this 10-12. We didn't see anybody, so we
started going further out, and we went out to the
Union Pacific tracks. We're gonna head
up to the north, and see if maybe
he's up in that area. At that time, the
Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office
became involved. Hey, I, we've looked all over. I got Bear out east. And also with the
OFFICER: Hey, how you doing? COTANT: Nebraska State Patrol.
OFFICER: Okay. COTANT: Okay, you thought you
might've seen that guy? Everybody started looking in
different areas of the county, ended up the Nebraska
State Patrol found him three miles east of
Mitchell, on County Road G. DISPATCHER: 20-12. COTANT: So
finally we arrived. OFFICER: All he wants to do is
walk to Scottsbluff, buy four packs of
cigarettes, and go home. COTANT: (laughs) Okay, alrighty. I talked with Dale,
I've known Dale for probably 17, 18
years, since I started copping up here in Mitchell. I said, "You're not gonna
hurt yourself, right?" And he goes, "No." He says, "Well, I
tell you what, Dale, "we'll just go down
there and we'll get you "a couple packs of cigarettes." He said, "Okay." So we drove down
to Scottsbluff. I think it makes a
good public relations that I do something like that,
DALE: We got it. COTANT: because there may be a
time that I may need him for something, and
he'll remember well, "Yeah, you know,
he did that for me. "He's a good cop." NARRATOR: The city budget
may be the best indication that Mitchell supports
keeping its own police force. It's 22% of the city's
million dollar budget. More than roads or
parks or anything else. Voters approved a
sales tax increase, in part to maintain
local police coverage. BRIAN TAYLOR: Our guys are
busy all the time. And they're efficient. And they do a good job. NARRATOR: There
are the things you'd expect from
any department. (radar beeps) Working radar. The shoplifting and
burglary reports. Traffic accidents and
security system false alarms. (car driving away) COTANT:They were
testing the alarms, and now we know it works. JEFF SPROCK: And one of the
biggest things that small town police
have to deal with that Scottsbluff
doesn't have to deal with or Lincoln has to do,
is nuisance abatement. These poor guys, we are
on them all the time, on weeds, grass, and
junk in people's yards. That's not something
that somebody in Scottsbluff
has to deal with. COTANT: We are animal control. We do animal control. We've had a cat problem,
but here this last summer, they just, it's just exploded. I mean we've got feral
cats all over town. We put our live traps out. We had an incident
the other night, one of my officers
had to go over 'cause a lady let a
cat out of a trap. OFFICER: You call us.
CITIZEN: Okay. OFFICER: You do not mess
with our traps, okay?
CITIZEN: Okay, promise I won't. OFFICER: Because if you do, then
you're gonna look at charges. Do you understand that?
CITIZEN: Okay, yes. I promise I won't. OFFICER MANDY MURPHY:
Oh, I was looking for that
the other day. (laughs) NARRATOR: Officer
Mandy Murphy has been in uniform for seven years, four of those with the
Mitchell Police Department. MURPHY: I like probably the most that every day is
something different. Like it's not just
the same thing and sitting in an
office all day. I'm constantly challenged by it. I prefer nights, just because
it's kind of different calls that you respond to
than during the day. A lot of our disturbances
happen at night. I would say one of our
more dangerous calls that we respond to are
domestic disturbances. (gun magazine clicks) They like us to have more than
one officer respond to those, especially, because
they're a lot of times more dangerous than others. NARRATOR: About 1,600
people call Mitchell home. One out of every four of the
mass shootings in America took place in towns with
fewer than 10,000 people. Many of the smallest
police departments now recognize schools
become targets. In 2016, Nebraska state law
required school districts, big and small, to
prepare safety plans in partnership
with local police. (children chattering) COTANT: This drill we're
gonna do this afternoon helps the teachers know
what to do with their kids. TEACHER: Today when we practice,
they want us to do a lockdown, which means that
we lock our rooms, okay, we pull our curtains, and we go to the safest
place in the room. Where is the safest
place, do you think? You guys are sharp. You bet, over in the corner. COTANT: I mean it's secure. Getting in would
probably be easy, but going and getting
in one of the rooms, you're not getting in. PRINCIPAL: We have
three doors we've gotta lock. So that'd be it. TEACHER: I guess to me, the
lockdown of the outside doors are the priority. PRINCIPAL: We don't want parents
to come in there. MURPHY: I think it makes it
a lot more difficult when the kids are there. Just kinda seeing
their reaction, even to a drill, you can
tell they're a little unsure. Just thinking about if a
real situation would happen, how they would react to that. COTANT: Things get a little
chaotic, you know. Especially if all the kids
are out in the hallway. And they say, "lockdown,
lockdown, lockdown." (children chattering)
(alarm chimes) PRINCIPAL: Please lockdown. Please lockdown right now. COTANT: Kids are
rushed into the rooms, doors are closed. TEACHER: Go ahead, quickly. Sit down, quick, quick, quick. COTANT: Their
lights are off. INSTRUCTOR: Shh,
everybody stay quiet. COTANT: They're in a certain
area of the room, and they will not
open those doors until they are given
a clear signal. Which will come either from
myself or the principal. (heartbeat thumping) (door rattling) (knocking on window) PRINCIPAL:
Okay, you can't see them. MURPHY: We're not gonna
wait for anybody. That's another
post-Columbine thing that went into
affect after that. Before that, they would
just call the SWAT team. But now, they have decided
that we need to go in. Even if it's just one officer. (alarm ringing)
I think it's something that every officer
has to think about, when they go into it, is whether or not they'd
be able to do that and be able to make that choice if they have to
take somebody's life to help save other people. WEBB: It's scary
that we have to look at active shooter like we do now. Because that just tells you
the world we're living in. But I think the training, the
way we're doing the training, is a step forward.
(gun shots fired) BRENDA URBANEK: Columbine
changed how officers responded to horrific events
like an active shooter. Almost every community that has a police department
has a school. And in the last 20 years,
people have recognized that if you truly wanna
hit Americans hard, you hit the school. Because everybody
cares about the kids. Whatever the reason is,
the act is gonna require that local department
to be prepared. NARRATOR: Only recently
did Nebraska's Law Enforcement Training Center require
active shooter training for every Nebraska police
officer or sheriff's deputy wanting to wear the badge. Some call it active shooter, some call it active killer.
(gun fires) MIKE KERBY: It was
traditionally, that
was a SWAT call response. You waited for SWAT to show up, and Columbine showed
us that's probably, needed to be looked at and
that needed to be changed. NARRATOR: Several
Nebraska police departments, large and small, have
specially-trained tactical units on
standby, ready to deploy. It takes time to
gather those teams. The small town cops may
not have that time to wait. OFFICER: Freeze. KERBY: We're asking law
enforcement officers now, city, county, state,
doesn't make any difference, the ones that are on
the beat are now tasked with more responsibility
than has ever occurred in the history of
American law enforcement, as far as I'm concerned. Did you do fire drills
when you were in school? How many kids have
been killed in a fire in a school in the United
States in the last 25 years? I'll answer it for you. None. There are still
schools that do not do active-shooter-based training. And that number is not zero. We all know that in here. NARRATOR: Officers
in training learn how to approach a scene safely and how to analyze
the risk going in. Weeks of classroom work
and field demonstrations proceed the live-fire
active shooter exercise. KERBY: Through the teachings
here, we teach them how to aggressively yet safely move
towards the sound of gunfire, rather than to hold and
wait for somebody else with bigger guns and more
body armor to come protect it. PRESTON: Move in!
OFFICER: Go. OFFICER REGINA PRESTON: For
me it was an intense training to show how to do something
the right way, and safely. How your body
reacts, how your mind and everything reacts, it's a, it was a good learning
experience to go through. NARRATOR: Regina Preston
arrived from
Mitchell, Nebraska, hoping to fill that
fourth position on her hometown department. PRESTON: Go! INSTRUCTOR: There you go. Now you are the only
insurance policy they've got. PRESTON: You know, this
is what we learn. This is what we did. This is what goes
on on the street. It's not a movie,
it's not a show. It's hard work,
it's determination. And you're a target. KERBY: They are now tasked with
going into a rapidly-evolving, very violent situation,
and if need be, hunt down and neutralize
an aggressive behavior. That's just not typically
what police officers do. MARK STEPHENSON: So what are
your priorities? Your priority needs to be
whatever the shooter is doing. That's your priority. Stop the killing. Is the number one priority
for active shooter. NARRATOR: Once the
classroom work is complete, plastic safety pistols are
replaced by loaded guns, for an intense day of
real-time exercises in a vacant office building. STEPHENSON: The goal of today is
to put them in a scenario we call stress inoculation,
we're exposing them to a high-stress situation.
(gun shots fired) NARRATOR: Small
groups are thrown into unpredictable scenarios,
facing gunfire. (gun clicks) Weapons filled with
non-lethal rounds, (gun clicks) simulated ammunition that sting and make an impression
on body and mind. MAN: Help. I'm...
(gun shots fired) RANDI WEBB: It's a whole
different world when there's actual
projectiles coming at you. And it's amazing, because
even being the role-player, I get jacked up when
they come down the hall. (gun shots fired) WOMAN: Gonna kill everybody! MAN: Stop! Stop!
(guns clicking) NARRATOR: They never
know what they're getting
themselves into. MAN: Help, help, help. (gun shots fired) KERBY:: We also ask them,
if necessary, to walk past MAN: Help me! KERBY:
injured or dying people, to
hunt down that individual. OFFICER: Don't move! NARRATOR: In a crisis, small
town cops find themselves suddenly thrown
together with officers from neighboring
cities and counties. Similar training helps
an impromptu team deal with the unexpected. There may be a hostage. A suicide threat. An ambush. (gun clicks) WEBB:
When I'm encountering them, you see the pure
terror in their face when they round that
corner and see somebody with an actual gun that's
gonna shoot something at them. (people yelling frantically) NARRATOR: Occasionally,
teams remained remarkably focused, as the
chaos of the drill unfolds. KERBY: They moved as
a trained unison, they moved into position,
and if they did things right, the person that was
neutralized was the bad guy. If they were hit, they took
non-life-threatening wounds, because they did the training as they were
prescribed to do that. As you saw, the vast majority
of them did a great job. They come in, they did it,
MAN: Don't shoot! KERBY: And there
was no hesitation. INSTRUCTOR: Neither one of our
hostages got hit. They weren't laying
on the floor, so they didn't get
hit, that's good, you recognized and
processed that information, took out the shooter only. NARRATOR: Some find the
intensity disorienting. They forget the drills and the
classroom advice. OFFICER: I'm out, I'm out. (gun fires) WEBB: When you actually
put a live firearm with the sim rounds in on it, you see they get
that adrenaline dump. STEPHENSON:
The adrenaline in stress is the main cause for
most of the errors. The stress will
cause the mistakes. PRESTON: There was a lot that
caught you off-guard. When you get shot
at, you're being, I mean, you know it's coming, but you're not real sure
from where sometimes. NARRATOR: Officer Preston's
team started out strong. WOMAN: So what
can we do for you? What's going on? NARRATOR: But negotiations
with a freaked-out woman using a human shield
seemed fruitless. WOMAN: Take it, take the
shot, take the shot. NARRATOR: Then a team member
WOMAN: Do it! NARRATOR: deviates from
training,
WOMAN: Do it! NARRATOR: stepping
into the doorway, NARRATOR: unsure if he should
use
WOMAN: Do it! NARRATOR: civilians to steady
WOMAN: Shoot me. NARRATOR: his firearm.
WOMAN: Shoot me, shoot me. 10, nine.
OFFICER: Get in there, get in
there, go get him.
WOMAN: Eight. (gun shots fired) STEPHENSON: You're murdered. Real life, you're owned. That was some of
the stupidest shit I've ever seen in
my entire life. You guys were told
and told and told, you don't, I even
demonstrated this. Did I not? PARTICIPANT: For--
STEPHENSON: For this. It was a hostage situation, she's trying to negotiate, and you're standing
up here with your gun on Molden's shoulder,
and she's taunting you, and you're still standing there. You killed a hostage,
you haven't done shit. That is not how we work that. PRESTON:
It drills into your brain. If they talk sweet and
gentle and sensitive, you're gonna forget it. KERBY: Life's not nice.
STEPHENSON:
If you can't help yourself, KERBY: You could get yourself
shot, how nice is that? If you cause somebody else to
get shot, how nice is that? Other than
themselves, we are the most harsh critics. STEPHENSON:
You were gonna shoot somebody. If I ever see you in a
scenario like that again, holster your gun and go,
"Well, you got me, I'm out," I will call your agency
and I will tell them that you are not
ready for this job. URBANEK: One of the biggest
killers of cops is apathy. And, well, it's complacency. It's never gonna happen here. It's never happened here, so
it's never gonna happen here. NARRATOR: When
the legislature set up the state's
training center, only about 12% of
police officers and sheriff's deputies
received any formal training. If a local agency did
train, every police chief and sheriff used
different methods. URBANEK: I've been in law
enforcement for 35 years, and when I started
in law enforcement, it was not an uncommon
event to hear people say, "Yeah, they hired me Tuesday,
gave me the keys to the car, "and a gun and a badge, and
told me to go drive around." Now, we have gradually
gravitated away from that. But it's still possible for
people to go out and work for almost a year without
having any academy training. NARRATOR: Omaha, Lincoln,
and the Nebraska State Patrol all have their own
basic training. Every other agency,
the smallest departments, send their new officers here. WOMAN: Ready. NARRATOR: Diversity
remains an issue, especially in
rural departments. Figures on minority
officers aren't available, but training
classes rarely match Nebraska's racial and
cultural diversity. In towns under
5,000, less than 5% of the sworn police
officers are women. WEBB: When we're fighting for
our weapon, guys, we never stop. Never stop. Right there for us. NARRATOR:
Instructor Randi Webb trained here as
a rookie officer with the Grand Island
Police Department. She was in class 156. The academy recently
graduated class 200. WEBB: When you feel them--
NARRATOR: She sees
similarities. RANDI WEBB:
I see naive people. You don't realize all the
stuff you're gonna see. And you don't realize how
people can treat each other and how they can treat you, and that just comes
with the experience of being on the street. TRAINEE: Wanna wake up?
MAN: Yes. NARRATOR: There is
training for the daily routine and training for
the extraordinary. Today, it's searching a
building for an armed intruder. WEBB: We've been taught you can
do active shooter situations as a one-person team,
going in by yourself and just hunting down
where you need to go. But you put yourself
in their shoes. Running into a
situation where you know somebody is actively
shooting people, actively hunting people down, and your confidence level,
that adrenaline rush, that fear, it's gonna be there. MIKE KERBY:
Drill's quite simple. We put multiple people
in different rooms, that if you move
at an adequate pace you should be able to see them, and we have them
walk the hallway, and they call out
those that they see. TRAINEE: Contact. Contact. KERBY: When they turn around,
and I ask the rest to step out, they realize they
were moving too fast, when they looked left, they
should've been looking right. They understand that
if they can get help, it's all the best. STEPHENSON:
So now you have to decide. Do I take the speed and get
to the end of the hallway, save the people
that are being shot, or do I go slow down this
hallway to ensure that I find anybody that
may be in the room, threat or no threat? What's important now. And that's a decision
you have to make. That's the reason
that going into this by yourself is
such a hard choice. WEBB: The stress level, you
hear it in their breathing, you hear their voice
if they try talking. You visibly see them, as
they're going through it. It's a huge amount of stress
for one person to go through. INSTRUCTOR:
Preston, you're up next.
TRAINEE: Yep. (intense music) PRESTON: And going in in
that situation, you don't have a cover officer, you don't have six set of
eyes in that situation, you have your own two. So you miss things. It's scary, I'm not gonna lie. It is scary. It's a scary thought
to think that it's gonna happen in our town. Put your hands up,
lemme see them. INSTRUCTOR: Keep moving. PRESTON: Unrealistic or not, it's still an eye-opener. And it was a good training. And to get to the
end and see how many vital things you missed, INSTRUCTOR: Bad guys, step out. PRESTON: And why do I go in? Because there's lives at stake. There's kids at stake,
whether it's a school or a bank, it doesn't matter. That's my job. NARRATOR: The Mitchell
Police Department has been shorthanded
for almost four years. It was a gift to
have Officer Preston, who lives in town, eager
to fill the empty position. Recruiting new cops
can become a chore. JEFF SPROCK:
So if you can develop local
talent, it is just gold. I'm just really excited. It's kinda neat to see the
kinda the Regina Preston story happen here, where she
was just a citizen, was wanting to maybe get
involved in law enforcement, and then the city went ahead
and paid for her education and now she's got a
long-term future here. PRESTON: Henry. I wanted to work in Mitchell. My family's here. My husband and I moved here. So I guess you could say,
for the last six years, our life has been here. The community has grown on
me over the past few years. And I like it here. It's like a Mayberry. Everybody knows everybody, and if they don't, they
find out who they are. PRESENTER: Officer
Regina Preston, Mitchell Police Department. NARRATOR: She'd been
on the job for a year. Now certified by
the training center, she takes on full
responsibilities. It's a proud day, clouded
by an unexpected setback. PRESTON: I broke my foot. I broke the fifth
metatarsal in my foot. And it was horrible
the day of graduation, because I couldn't
walk with my class. So that was tough. But I graduated. KID: Look what happened
to her foot. MAN: I know.
PRESTON: Yeah, yeah. PRESTON: I'm
determined, though. I'm determined to
get back out there. SPROCK: It is a huge crisis,
because it's a fourth of our police department
that we just lost, right? And so Mike's gonna end
up having to work 70 hours a couple of weeks, to cover
for a situation like that. So it's a huge deal. NARRATOR: Unable
to do street patrol on her own for several weeks, Officer Preston handles
administrative duties and, when possible, accompanies
Chief Cotant on patrol, testing the skills she
learned at the academy. MIKE COTANT: They do a great
job down there. I can't say anything
bad about it. But until you're actually
out on the streets, it's a whole different thing. I mean, it's like,
they tell you how to approach the situation,
a certain situation, but yet it may not be
the actual way to do it. (bluesy music) NARRATOR: Making the rounds, the chief spots a
Mitchell resident he knows has his
driver's license revoked. COTANT: He knows, he knows. When I see this gentleman,
and I'm thinking, "You've got to be kidding me." I ain't got any
citations with me. NARRATOR: It's a routine
stop for a fairly
minor offense. COTANT: He pulled
over without me even turning on the lights. NARRATOR: Even when
you're on a first-name basis with the driver, you
never know when something may go alarmingly off-script. The driver gets a fresh
driving-while-suspended
citation. The truck will be towed. Everybody sticks to the
script and no problem. COTANT: So after that was
over, I asked Regina, Officer Preston, I said,
"So," I said, "Critique me." I said, "What'd I do?" Okay, what'd I do wrong? PRESTON: Are you asking me
to critique you or-- COTANT: Yes I am. PRESTON: For my chief to ask
me to critique him, it was kind of a
prideful moment. I kinda got excited,
I'm like, "Really." Well, you didn't call it in. COTANT: Well yeah, that's true.
PRESTON: You didn't confirm it. COTANT: Yeah. PRESTON: Then you got the
license. You didn't ask for the
license of the passenger, when you knew that he wasn't COTANT: Well.
PRESTON: driving under
suspension. COTANT: Yeah. See, I'm doing all things wrong. That's a good critique. PRESTON: You weren't prepared
for--
COTANT: No, I wasn't. (laughs) PRESTON: Any stop.
COTANT: No, I was not. PRESTON:
And that's one thing that
they really pushed learning, up at the academy, this
is how you need to do it, this is how I
expect you to do it. This is where you park, this
is when you light 'em up, this is when you call it out, this is when, how you approach, this, I mean all these
different things. So with me sitting back after
getting out of the academy learning all of this, and
watching someone else, I can honestly say,
"That's not right." COTANT: But you know, I mean,
it's a good thing for me. To be critiqued. 'Cause I do, I'm human. I miss things. She was a pretty blunt
force to me. (laughs) That gives her I think
a sense of belonging and that she's sharing
her knowledge with me. And I'm looking to the
future, and down the road, after I leave here, in
about a year and a half, maybe two, that the city's
gonna be in good hands. SCHNELL: I just have a
front radar so I can catch people coming at me. NARRATOR: A speeding ticket
may be the most common way to meet a sheriff's deputy in
one of Nebraska's 93 counties. SCHNELL:
I try to stay consistent,
so that way I go into court and say, "Yep, everybody
over 10 and above "gets a ticket, no matter what." DRIVER: I'm sorry,
I'm just a little-- SCHNELL: You were under 10
over, how 'bout that? I'll tell you that. Between five and 10 over. NARRATOR: There are days
even a routine traffic stop takes an unexpected,
even dangerous turn. The Law Enforcement
Training Center prepares new officers
for those days. (sirens wailing)
(lively music) Might be some guy with
an outstanding warrant or a trunk full of
pot, who figures his car can outrun
a deputy sheriff. Off they go, barreling
down any of the thousands of miles
of two-lane blacktop or narrow gravel roads. NATHAN PHIPPS:
Went through driver's ed,
but they don't teach you this type of stuff,
you know? (laughs) NARRATOR: The
twisty test track behind the training center may
be the only practice they get before a real pursuit
back in their home county. ALEX PAYTON:
A lotta people would look,
okay, they're teaching a police officer to go fast. They're teaching
a police officer to catch the bad guy faster. Well, it's not all
that, in my opinion. I believe they're teaching
us to do it in a safe manner. To where we can take a turn, we can accelerate
on a straightaway, we can close the gap
between ourselves and the pursuing vehicle
efficiently but also safely, so we're not putting
ourselves, our partner, the individual suspect that
we're chasing in danger, and most importantly,
we're not putting either pedestrians and
third parties in danger. (pounding on roof) NARRATOR: After
sunset comes a final, white-knuckle pursuit before
the student officers graduate. Their only friend will be
the voice of a dispatcher. DISPATCHER:
9307, NSP is in the area. Where would you like
them to place spikes? OFFICER: The dirt. DISPATCHER: I'm going to need a more specific
location than the dirt. NARRATOR: A
high-speed chase brings a special kind of
terror when somebody's desperate to avoid arrest. Every sheriff in Nebraska
knows what it's like listening to the police
radio as the chase unfolds. SHERIFF NELS SORENSEN:
I am basically responsible
for all these kids out here. Once in a while you sit
up at night, going "Yeah", or you hear a call that
goes out, and you go, "Well, should I go?" And I'm going, "Well,
they're big kids, "they can go take care of it." But, you know, you
second-guess yourself. Gotta trust in God
and their training and their abilities and. NARRATOR: Nels Sorensen
is in his fourth term as sheriff in Jefferson County. SORENSEN: I've
been in law enforcement, this coming April
will be 44 years. We have the confines
of Jefferson County and the southern
border of Nebraska, butts up against Kansas. Being a sheriff is
a unique position. You have a civic
duty to do things, you have to answer
to the people. I think it's probably the
greatest part of law enforcement to be in a small community. You know people, you're
a part of the community, I think Jefferson County,
not everybody likes us, but overall, we're
well-accepted in the community. NARRATOR: Maybe
there isn't a typical rural sheriff's
department in Nebraska, but Jefferson County
would be a candidate. Another would be Butler
County, to the north, where farmland starts
to flatten out, accommodating the Platte River. Marcus Siebken
worked as a deputy when the sheriff, a close
friend, passed away. Siebken earned enough votes in the 2014 election
to keep his job. MARCUS SIEBKEN: I
was 30 years old, I was
a 30-year-old sheriff. One of the youngest
sheriffs in the state. I didn't get into
law enforcement duty to be an administrator as a
sheriff when I was 30 years old. I went into law enforcement
to provide safety for wherever I'm working. The farming community,
good people. When I arrived here in 2009, it's almost like I was
accepted right away, which was, which made
me wanna stay here. People come to my house,
my phone goes off non-stop. So it's a 24-hour job. My birthday this year,
I got called out, we had a fatality accident
involving a 15-year-old girl, so that's how I
spent my birthday, was telling her mother
that her daughter wasn't gonna come
home that night. Does it take a mental anguish
on somebody after the fact? Absolutely. But, like I said,
you get into the job knowing that that's
gonna happen someday. We have a 10-man
department, 11 with me. So if your population's
decreasing, people are gonna go, "Why do
we need this many deputies "if we don't have this many
people in the community?" As far as the other
small towns around in Butler County,
you're losing numbers. The towns are getting smaller. NARRATOR: Since the
1970's in central Nebraska, people have drifted away
from the rural counties. Small towns shut down
police departments, turning over law enforcement
to the county sheriff. SIEBKEN: There's 13
communities in Butler County. Range from 100 people to
close to 1,000 people. We have three contracted towns
within the sheriff's office, David City, which is
our main contract, Bellwood, and Rising City. NARRATOR: In Butler
County, David City gave up its four officers,
signing a contract with the sheriff
to keep the peace. DEPUTY MARLA SCHNELL: Hey, make
sure you mow this, okay Laura? Each city contracts with
the sheriff's office for so much patrol time
in their community. That would include doing
ordinances and stuff like cars and weeds and stuff, so we have to do
so many hours a day in those contract towns,
to meet those hours. I'm not gonna disturb the
dogs anymore. (chuckles) (slow bluesy music) SORENSEN: We've been one of
the 10 most depleting counties in the state
for several cycles. Oh, it's terrible. Our population is going down, but our crime rate is going up. NARRATOR: The
population of Fairbury, the largest town in
Jefferson County, dropped 6% in 10 years. Tax revenue dropped as well. The city debated whether
it was just too expensive to pay for its own
police force. CITIZEN: It seems like
we're on this trend of cutting this community
down to just a bare bones. NARRATOR: Legitimate
concerns mixed with rumor fueled concerns about
whether Fairbury could remain a
safe place to live. CITIZEN: I don't like seeing
the whole community freaking out about whether
their children are gonna be safe or whether they're gonna
have to go purchase hand guns and mace and
everything like that. NARRATOR: Contracting
with the county sheriff seemed the only way out. COUNCILMAN:
The people are gonna be there, they're gonna have the backup, they're gonna have the
help that they need. SORENSEN: So,
there will no longer be a
Fairbury Police Department. This year they've finally
come to the conclusion that the numbers
that I can give them, they'll get the same quality
of law enforcement they have, and save them some money. And we're gonna be doing it
with the same number of people, only thing they'll be wearing brown uniforms instead of blue. COUNCILMAN: The Highway Safety
Office for-- (keys jingling) NARRATOR: Sheriffs
run county jails. There are 67 around the state. The smallest counties don't
always have enough arrests to justify the cost,
so they pay rent for cell space in counties
where there are empty beds. SIEBKEN:
In doing that now, our jail
is full 85% of the time now, with our inmates and a couple
other counties' inmates. And it's created several
hundreds and hundreds of thousand dollars of
revenue for Butler County. NARRATOR: A county
jail can tell you a lot about the amount of crime
and the type of crime. SIEBKEN: Drug crimes, possession
of controlled substances, those are our big ones. DEPUTY MATT SCHULTZ: We have a
big problem with drugs, and that's been that way
since I've been here. (slow bluesy music) DEPUTY: Sheriff's
office, search warrant, we're coming inside,
it's very important. Guy, lemme see your hands, lemme see your hands.
OFFICER: Lemme see your hands. OFFICER: Hands. SCHULTZ: You get your burglaries
and your other things, but a lot of those
are related to drugs in and of themselves. You probably wouldn't
have that burglary if it hadn't been for drugs. (handcuffs being applied) People need to fuel their habit. Mostly what we see is
methamphetamine, marijuana, started to see an
upsurge in heroin, fentanyl, things like that. Prescription drugs are big too. You see a lot of abuse of that. OFFICER: This is a field
test, turned blue. This color means it's a positive
test for methamphetamine. SCHULTZ: You know,
most of these people aren't bad people,
they're just addicts. And they need help. And a lot of our
calls like that, that's what we're dealing with. We're not dealing mainly
with the Mexican mafia or anything like that, we're
just dealing with people who have a substance abuse
problem, and they need help. SORENSEN: We've served a lot
of search warrants here in the last year,
trying to clean things up. We're very proactive
at trying to curb this, and it's one of those
things that's kinda like the little Dutch boy with his
finger in the dike. He only has so many fingers,
and we're the line between you might say good and evil. 'Cause drugs are
definitely evil. Tears families apart,
and it's a sad situation. (officer calling dog
out of car) NARRATOR: There is
evidence drug smugglers stay busy moving product
across the network of rural highways
and back roads. SIEBKEN: I think a lotta
counties are taking a stance on, good luck
going through Nebraska, because we've got a
lotta trained officers on the criminal drug
interdiction here. OFFICER:: Good girl, good girl. Good, good girl. Good girl. NARRATOR: Interstate 80,
cutting through rural counties, earned its reputation as a
pipeline for cars and trucks moving tons of illegal
drugs across Nebraska. SIEBKEN: I think it's
everywhere, with Colorado legalizing marijuana, it's
not hard to do a traffic stop here in David City or
on Highway 92 or 15, where it's a simple
marijuana infraction stop, and a cite and release. You would almost see that daily. DEPUTY ROBERT JORDAN:
It doesn't matter to me
whether you're in a big city or a small town,
crime still happens, and you still need those
same investigative tools. This is gonna be our GPS
system that we use, basically-- NARRATOR: From accessing
arrest record databases, to filling out
reports in the field, the technology linking all
Nebraska law enforcement became an expensive necessity for small departments
with limited resources. JORDAN: It's a big difference. Technology has come
a long, long way. NARRATOR: Tracking
devices in patrol cars all over the state
transmit their locations to dispatchers across the state and on cruiser
dashboards in the field. JORDAN: It really helps
being able to tell where everyone else is,
if you were to need help. NARRATOR: Half the
police departments in the United States
employ body cameras. Officers in the
most remote settings can be constantly
monitored by technology, demanding new levels
of accountability. JORDAN: The very least,
we're on microphone, where you can hear everything
we're saying and doing. And then other than
that, we're on camera just about every
time we make contact with an individual, as well. OFFICER: He's
armed with a hammer. Justin, can I talk
to you real quick? Can you put the hammer down? Put the hammer down please. Justin, put the hammer down. Put the hammer down. WOMAN: Put it down. OFFICER: Put the hammer
down or you're gonna get tased. Put it down. (hammer clatters) Step away from it. What's going on, man? Get your hands out
of your pocket. NARRATOR: Police-worn body
cameras
OFFICER: What's going on? NARRATOR: Catch good
conduct and mistakes. Threatening behavior
and important details. RANDI WEBB:
The agencies that are throwing
a fit about them, why? It's just recording
what we do every day. If you're doing things
the way you should be, it shouldn't be an issue. MIKE KERBY:
We do, it's certainly not
a warning, it's an awareness. Hey don't do this, because
you might be caught on camera. That's not the way it is at all. We just remind them that
it's a different society they're policing in now. We've always lived
in glass houses. Trust us, law
enforcement always has. OFFICER: You're just
being detained, man. (handcuffs click) 'Cause you had that hammer and
you weren't putting it down. SIEBKEN: That'll go
in front of the courts. DISPATCHER:
Butler County 5-11. SIEBKEN: And they'll be able to
see this guy, how he was acting, show the mental health
problems that he's having. OFFICER: 10-4, can
you contact crisis center, see if they have
a bed available? The one in Lincoln, please? SIEBKEN: Mental health
issues are huge now, compared to what they
were 10 years ago. DISPATCHER: Larry with the
crisis center, he advised they do have
a bed open at this time. SIEBKEN: I feel that there's
been a huge uptick in it. Close to a couple times a week, we're dealing with some sort
of mental, mental health case. If we're taking somebody
into protective care or contacting a mental
health professor, and having them speak with them. (radio beeps) NARRATOR: Sheriff
Siebken got a call from a woman concerned
about her son, Jesse. Couple of years ago,
his meth addiction ended
in a prison term. SIEBKEN: What's going on, man? NARRATOR: Since his release,
his diagnosed JESSE: I'm all right. NARRATOR: Schizo-affective
disorder only worsened. (Jesse mumbles) SIEBKEN: And we've been dealing
with him for the last two years. And it's been a struggle, it's been a struggle
for his family. I know his mother's
taking it very hard. DEPUTY: He was in a manic
episode outside of his home. OFFICER: Okay. DEPUTY: Screaming at a tree. NARRATOR: A few years
ago, a small town cop would not have gotten
any professional guidance on how to cope with someone
appearing to be mentally ill. KERBY: Dealing with mentally ill
is a whole different conundrum than we've had in the past. We didn't understand it,
to be honest with you. And I think now there's
so much awareness on mental illness,
if we can minimize those violent interactions
between law enforcement and mentally ill, and get
them the help that they need, that's truly what the mission
of helping people's all about. JESSE: You know what that
means. DEPUTY: But I
just don't want you to put
your hands in your pocket, okay? JESSE: I can put my hands in my
pocket any time. DEPUTY: Well I don't know what
you have in there. Do you have any weapons? JESSE: It don't matter if I do
or not. DEPUTY: It does matter. NARRATOR: The
deputies respond just as they've been trained. Take things slow,
lower your voice, treat it as a
mental health issue rather than a
criminal complaint. RANDI WEBB: We don't know why
they're not listening, we don't know why they're
not following commands, and there could
be a legit reason why they're not doing all that. And if controlling the situation means putting your
hands on somebody, you put your hands on somebody. DEPUTY: Keep your hands, okay.
JESSE: Hey, whoa, whoa. No, what did I do?
DEPUTY: Keep your hands. That's like the fourth time JESSE: No I didn't.
DEPUTY: I've asked you. NARRATOR: This is not
an unusual occurrence in rural counties. DEPUTY: Hi, are you mom? NARRATOR: Families with
mentally ill relatives can have frequent visits
with the local cops. MOM: He sees things and
he fights for his life and there's--
DEPUTY: Okay. MOM: There's nothing there.
DEPUTY: So he'll have like an actual fight, just--
MOM: Yes. DEPUTY: Nobody there.
MOM: There's nobody there. DEPUTY: Okay. NARRATOR: Butler County,
like most small counties in Nebraska, has no
mental health specialists, much less beds available
in area hospitals. MOM:
I'm trying to find someplace
else, but I have no money. He has no insurance, nothing. NARRATOR: In
a case like this, the deputies must
decide if Jesse is a danger to
himself or others. DEPUTY: You burned
yourself, didn't you? JESSE: There ain't nothing
wrong. DEPUTY: Okay,
what about your chest? JESSE: There is nothing
wrong with me though. No, this is it, real shadow. What's wrong with that?
What's wrong? DEPUTY: See you burned your
chest right there. JESSE: That ain't burned. No, that ain't burned. That's religious stuff. DEPUTY: That's religious stuff?
JESSE: Yeah it is for me. DEPUTY: Okay. JESSE: Hey mom! NARRATOR: Reason enough to
request he be placed in
emergency protective custody. It's a long, one-hour drive to
the crisis center in Lincoln. BRENDA URBANEK: It'd be great
if every community had a mental health
practitioner, that when somebody was
experiencing a crisis, we could call them in and say, "Hey, we've got him safe right
now, now will you take him?" Well anymore, our police
officers on the street are having to try to do
initial assessments to see what kind of a crisis is
this person experiencing, and do we have the resources? NARRATOR: At one
time, Nebraska had regional mental
health care centers to house the most
challenging cases. The state re-purposed
those facilities, shifting most of the long-term
care responsibilities back to the families. MOM: Honey,
I need you to get help. JESSE: Can I stay? MOM: No, you need help.
JESSE: I'll be okay, mom. I was coming home.
MOM: No. NARRATOR: Disturbance calls to local law
enforcement increased. SHERIFF NELS SORENSEN:
Since they closed down
the regional centers here, 15 years ago or such, their
beds are at a premium. NARRATOR: At the
Jefferson County jail, deputies brought
in a man growling and shouting obscenities
every waking minute. (man screeching) SORENSEN: Hours on end.
DISPATCHER: All day. NARRATOR: A judge ordered him sent to the regional center. SORENSEN:
He is number 30 on the list
of when a bed comes available, so there's 29
people ahead of him waiting for a bed at
the regional center. So we're, we could
have him for a month, two months, four months. NARRATOR: The mental illness
calls, a family in crisis. A potential suicide. Anyone in law enforcement
who sticks with the job comes to understand a basic
truth about this kind of work. SCHULTZ:
When you're a cop out here, you have to learn how
to talk to people. Your greatest weapon
is your mouth. And it'll keep you out of a lot of fights and
dangerous situations. It'll calm things down, it'll
help you stay alive out here. OFFICER MANDY MURPHY:
I think a lot of it is just
knowing how to talk to people. To talk them down. If you can talk to them
and treat them the way that you would wanna be treated,
then that gets you a lot. SORENSEN: I've always said I've
talked more people to jail than I've fought to jail. OFFICER CHUCK MENEZES:
Most cops, when they
first get in this job, all of us we get
that mentality is, we're gonna save people,
and we're gonna go arrest all the bad
guys, and take everybody to jail that needs
to go to jail. And there's a certain
point where you realize that doesn't always work. We've gotta try
to keep them down. You can't take
everybody to jail. CITIZEN: I have a trap over
at my place too. NARRATOR: Local agencies
hire their own police officers. Those recruits train at the Law
Enforcement Training Center. URBANEK: The challenge
we face right now, typically we have a class of 50. We only have 40. Because agencies are having
difficulty finding applicants who meet those standards,
who want to do this job. NARRATOR: Rural
sheriffs and small town police departments
face fierce competition for new recruits and
experienced officers. KERBY: When I was hired there
were like 2,000 applicants for the 41 jobs that I had. Now, agencies are having
a very difficult time just finding quality
applicants to come in. NARRATOR: As Butler
County tried to fill two vacant deputy
sheriff positions, other agencies had 99 open
jobs for uniformed officers. (Taser clicking)
OFFICER: It does that. Then I can shut it off. It's five seconds, and
it's a long five seconds. OFFICER:
It's a very long five seconds. NARRATOR: It's career night
at David City High School. SIEBKEN: We got
a lotta cool stuff. We have a lotta technology. NARRATOR: Getting
a small town kid interested in becoming
a small town cop can become the best
kind of recruiting. SIEBKEN:
With other agencies being
closer to Lincoln and Omaha, that's kinda for the
younger generation, that's kinda where
they wanna work. Being out in rural
Butler County, it's hard to find somebody to
come and stay and work here. Take a brochure. Always keep us in
mind, all right? TEEN: Okay.
SIEBKEN: All right. NARRATOR: Average
salary for a sworn officer in central Nebraska runs
about $50,000 a year. They can earn $13,000
more by moving to Omaha. That salary is set by county
boards and city councils. They also decide how many
officers are on the street every time they pass
an annual budget. SORENSEN: The county board has
given me permission to hire a single school
resource officer. NARRATOR: Every
citizen has an opinion about public safety. At election time,
they get the say on what type of police
protection they want. 2018 was one of those years. In Mitchell, Nebraska,
there were three candidates for mayor. COTANT: Unfortunately, I hate
to say, politics stink. They just do. (Train passing by) NARRATOR: Every now and then, somebody gets fired
up about shutting down the police department
or cutting the budget or changing who's in charge. COTANT: So if this year,
when the new mayor, or whoever it is
is gonna be mayor, decides not to appoint me as
the police chief, I'm done. I don't have a job. NARRATOR: Mitchell's incumbent
mayor wasn't re-elected. There's no sign
from the new mayor Chief Cotant needs to worry
about keeping his job. In Jefferson County, Nels
Sorensen ran unopposed again. He's sheriff for
another four years. SORENSEN:
Little over 3,000 elected
sheriffs in the United States. We're a pretty small group. Everybody has that
responsibility, to the electorate, that
you're doing your job. And if you're not
doing your job, then you're not gonna
be doing it much longer. (plaintive music) NARRATOR: The election
for sheriff in Butler County took an unexpected turn. After six years in
office, Marcus Siebken found himself running
against two opponents. MARCUS SIEBKEN:
Obviously, the whole
county looks at the sheriff. And that's very hard. Just for me personally,
because I hate failure. So if I fail, I feel like
I've failed the whole area of Butler County, and
I've let every citizen down. BILL KELLY: What does
failure mean, in this case? SIEBKEN: I'm still trying
to figure that out. KELLY: Your
crime rate hasn't gone up. SIEBKEN: No. But like I said, I take every
comment, criticism, to heart. And that's been the
hardest thing for me since I've been sheriff. Is because I perceive, when
I go out in the public, like my skin is thick and
nothing's gonna hurt me. But underneath this uniform, this has been a hard
four years for sure. NARRATOR: Butler County
voters were restless. During Siebken's term,
arrests were up in the county, but there were complaints
before the election about locals getting too many
speeding tickets and DUI's. SIEBKEN: You know, being in
a small community, a lot of people do expect
the good ol' boy system yet, and expect a favor
here and there. And I always said,
if I lose an election because I did the right
thing, then so be it. That's not who I am,
I treat everybody fair, and we're not gonna hide
anything from anybody. NARRATOR: Marcus
Siebken lost the election. He has since taken
a better-paying job outside of law enforcement. SORENSEN: If you're making
everybody happy, I've always said you're
not doing your job. So there's somebody not
gonna be happy with you. I think the big
thing is, is that you're answerable to the public. I think that's what
America's all about. NARRATOR: Elections,
recruiting, changes in the job. All of that is in the
background on graduation day at the Law Enforcement
Training Center. Eagerness and apprehension
fills the room. Families born of generations
of law enforcement officers gather around the rookies. KELLY: Did your dad
ever sit you down and say, "Do you really wanna do this?" DEPUTY ZACH KRAMER:
A couple times, yeah. KELLY: Tell me
about that conversation. KRAMER: Well, I guess you
could say I'm stubborn and just didn't listen, but.
(Father laughs) COMMANDER: Forward march. URBANEK: A successful graduate
is somebody who recognizes that you have to have compassion for your fellow human being, whether it's a
suspect or a victim. PRESENTER:
Deputy Zach Kramer, Lincoln County
Sheriff's Office. URBANEK: The successful
graduate, even though they walk across that stage and get that
packet with their diploma, realizes, "I don't
know anything yet. "I gotta keep learning." KRAMER: Be aware that you have
chosen a very dangerous career. At some point, someone
is going to try to hurt you or kill you. Keep that in mind every day, and keep in mind
that you will win. You never lose. URBANEK: A successful
graduate is somebody who recognizes that they
are entering a profession which is noble and honorable, that they have to
have that integrity throughout their career. Once they lose that integrity, they should go sell
shoes or something. NARRATOR: Once all the
certificates are issued, they turn to the audience and
deliver the Academy's Oath. ALL OFFICERS:
Honor, integrity, and respect are never betrayed. NARRATOR: Within days,
they are on full duty, many serving in
counties and towns with populations smaller than
single neighborhoods in Omaha. OFFICER: How you doing buddy?
OFFICER: Pretty good. NARRATOR: Out
in the panhandle, Officer Preston brought the
Mitchell Police Department back to full strength. PRESTON:
My family never discouraged
me from doing something that I felt like I wanted to do, and I'm not gonna discourage
somebody else from doing it. It's scary. The times are getting
even more scarier. Going through the training,
and being told things that we were told, and doing
what we did, and it is scary. It'll be a 1983... I think if you have a heart
for people to do your job and to uphold the law,
then I think it's okay. I think you'll be fine. You gotta do what
you gotta do, Steve! It's nice to work
in a smaller town, because you can have
the rapport with people and people can trust you. They know that they
don't have to worry so much during the day. I love it here. I don't wanna work
in a big city. I like it here. (peaceful music) (ardent music) Captions by FINKE/NET (ardent music) Copyright 2019,
NET Foundation for Television.
Nice documentary.