June 30, 2017 at 3:33 p.m.
Backing blue: Rhinelander Police Department recognizes citizens for their support
Backing blue: Rhinelander Police Department recognizes citizens for their support
By Kayla Thomason-
Each of the five honorees received a Certificate of Citizen Support to Local Law Enforcement Wednesday in a brief ceremony at the police department in recognition of their generous acts of support.
In addition to the certificates the recipients also received a mug, a pen and a yellow police patch.
Stephanie Haines from WJFW Newswatch 12 was recognized for donating some of her off-duty time to film scenarios with the field-training officers and the chaplain, creating a call-for-service video which the department will use in their hiring process.
"When we hire new officers they come in and do a lot one day and some of that is they watch this video and do a report on it," Gauthier explained. "And it's local, so it's not something that we grab off the internet or something like that. It's a local scenario with local scenery and our community and we want them to see our community and then respond to what they saw and do a report on it."
Haines also edited the work to make the short video.
"It was great because the officers were great actors, they were very improvisational, off the cuff, they were just working with each other and that was fun to watch and just impressive," she said.
Haines was honored to be acknowledged.
"It's really nice of them (the Rhinelander Police Department) but to be honest I mean doing this, it was so much fun," she said. "I had a blast, it was a pleasure and an honor to help the community."
Four men from the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) were recognized for putting on a shooting course for the patrol officers two weeks ago.
"By law, the training standards require our guys to go through a qualification course with their handgun every year between July 1st and June 30th and they have to pass this qualification course," Gauthier said.
The group set up the course at the riffle range, ensuring it incorporated the skills officers use in their training.
They have previously set up courses for the RPD following state-mandated training guidelines with "civilian" or no-shoot targets, Gauthier added. The courses are changed up each year depending on the number of rounds the officers want to shoot.
"They want things that move, they want things that are static, they want to transition from this target to that target, they shoot through ports or openings in walls," said Bruce Gary, USPSA certified range officer. "They shoot around corners. we have targets that run down a ramp, we have others that swing, so we try to make a collage of targets that keep them thinking."
It takes the four men about two to three hours to set up the course, he added.
"We're accountable for every time that we pull our trigger, every one that goes downrange - whether that's in training or in a real-life situation - we're responsible for that and we have to account for what's beyond what we're shooting at, so it teaches discipline, it teaches that sight alignment and sight picture accuracy, speed," Gauthier said.
The men were pleased to receive the certificates
"It's nice to be acknowledged but I'd rather put the emphasis on the police department, what they do for us rather than what we do for them. But we deeply appreciate their taking the time to do this," said Michael Rouse, USPSA certified range officer.
The men also know that the training helps the community.
"We all benefit from them. The better trained they are, everyone in the community benefits," said Don Minder, board member for the Hodag Sports Club. "Speaking from the Sports Club end, they (the community) have been very supportive, the community helping the Hodag Sports Club at our various events and this is a way of us giving back to the community."
Gauthier said the department greatly appreciate the support it receives from the community and the commendations are a way to express that gratitude.
"In the past, I'm sure there's other groups and people that did things and I'm not sure what the previous administration did, but we want to take a minute and publicly recognize them, saying 'thank you for time, thank you for your effort, thank you for the money that you invested and building this thing for us because it's making our officers more professional, better skilled, better trained,'" Gauthier said.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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