Citizen’s Police Academy:  Nate Morabito Goes To School

By Nate Morabito
Reporter / WJHL
Published: November 20, 2008

9 p.m. on a Monday, my partner Dave Morrison and I search a building for a bad guy.

“How we looking?“ I nervously ask Morrison.

Although our guns aren’t real, our nerves are. We know in real life our suspect isn’t armed, but it sure feels like he is. He could be anywhere inside the building. Our heart rates rise, our hands shake, and we take quicker breaths. If we spot him first, we win. If he catches us, we’re dead. Our anxiety is what’s called survival stress. It’s something police officers go through on every call. It affects the way they act in dangerous situations.

“I guess now I know what survival stress is,” I said after the bad guy spotted me first. “My heart right here is beating away.“

This lesson on survival stress was just one lesson my classmates and I learned during a 12-week course as part of the Kingsport Citizen’s Police Academy. Every Monday night for three months, I joined more than a dozen others to learn the ropes from Kingsport police officers.

Before starting the class, many of us never knew what it was like to be a police officer. We quickly learned, although rewarding, the job is hardly glamorous.

My classmates came from all walks of life and all had their reasons for signing up for the free program.

“(Police are not) given enough credit,” retiree Alyce Kohlman of Kingsport said about police officers.

“Theft, drugs, vice, it affects every citizen, in our taxes, the amount of money we pay,” Cholly Dober listed as one of the reasons why she signed up for the academy.

“They put their life on the line many times for us and we don’t know much about it,” retiree Carolyn Taylor added.

That’s not completely the case anymore. Inside a classroom, we listened closely to undercover drug agents. They told us how indoor marijuana is prevalent in our region and how meth addicts have life spans of just six years.

From patrol officers, we learned if an officer’s in fear for his or her life, he or she has every right to use deadly force on a criminal.

Investigators told us a police officer’s job is just as hard at home as it on the street. The divorce rate is anywhere from 60 to 80%, they said.

We also learned things aren’t getting any easier on the job. Police departments are stretched thin. For example, 165 patrol officers in the Model City respond to 60,000 calls a year.

Despite the grueling job, substitute teacher Mark Smelser believes police work still offers more positives than negatives. In fact, he wants to be an officer one day.

“If anything, it’s made it more exciting,” Smelser said of the possibility.

That could be partly because we spent so much time outside of the classroom. We saw the city’s $16,000 apiece K-9’s in action. They’re an officer’s best friend, but a criminal’s worst nightmare. The department’s handful of dogs help in searches for drugs, people, and bombs.

Speaking of bombs, the Kingsport Bomb Squad showed us the dangers of handling explosives.

“That one little thing there could take your hand off,” Detective Greg Lane said about a small bomb.

The Kingsport Bomb squad has a serious job when you consider Kingsport police respond to 30 to 40 explosive calls a year.

“We do have a lot more than what people realize,” Lane said.

Lane even gave us hands-on experience. Like many of my classmates, I got to blow something up. Although that class ended with a bang, my experience at Kingsport Citizen’s Police Academy wasn’t over just yet. In fact, the best was yet to come.

Tune in tonight at 11 for News Channel 11 Nightside to find out how the rest of Nate’s experience blew him away.