Policing students from Liverpool John Moores University experienced life on the front line as they grappled with a motorway shooting, retrieving a body from a tunnel and handling a fire.
Thankfully these were not genuine situations but part of a challenging three hour training session at the Emergency Services Training Centre in Wallasey, which gave the students a valuable opportunity to pick up vital practical skills they will need in the field.
The ESTC was purpose built to allow students a simulated experience of life-like emergency situations.
LJMU lecturer and Former Merseyside Police Sergeant Nick Kealy said: “The student voice is quite clear, they want to do more active learning away from the classroom”.
One such scenario involving the retrieval of a body from a dark tunnel tested the students’ leadership skills.
Another particularly hard-hitting case involved a motorway shooting. The scene used actors and a computer-operated dummy which simulated breathing and bleeding, on which the students were expected to perform first aid.
Mr. Kealy said: “Some of the students do find it a challenge, but we have got opportunities that you just don’t get in other places.”
Another scene simulated a fire-emergency where students, in full turnout gear, made their way through pitch-black to extinguish a kitchen fire and retrieve two casualties.
The experience gave a brief insight into a situation firefighters encounter daily.
Alex, a third-year student, said: “Being thrown into a scenario [was a challenge]. You’re all having to decide on the leader and put people where their strengths are”.
The programme aimed to test students’ ability to handle and overcome emergencies. Mr. Kealy told of a past student who, that very evening, provided vital first aid he had learnt during an emergency services training day.
Rob, another third year student, said: “Were I to go into the police service tomorrow, this course was so much help”.
Mr. Kealy also revealed that renovations were being conducted to construct a lifeboat-training facility, complete with a swimming pool and an active rescue boat
The next ESTC programme is scheduled for February 26th.
