An instructor walks through a warehouse with moveable walls that can change to become a bar, a home or a number of other locations that new officers can use to practice situations in Columbia, S.C., on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (Photo by Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Two people fight on a sidewalk as a police officer pulls up in a squad car. Shouting, a man turns to the officer, while the woman walks away.
The situation can go any number of ways from there. It’s up to the officers in training to decide what to do in the computer-simulated scenario. Standing in front of a screen, their response dictates the outcome. The situation is one of many they will practice at the Criminal Justice Academy in Columbia, where every new police officer in the state undergoes training.
Last year, the academy turned out just over 1,000 students, who went on to work for law enforcement agencies across the state.
For 12 weeks, including four online, recruits learn about the law, self-defense and how to use their weapons. Woven through all their training is crisis communication, which teaches officers how to handle as many situations as possible through talking while still recognizing when they might need to use force.
Outside, the recruits learned how to fire a gun. Inside, they learn when to fire their gun, instructor Donta Stewart told the half-dozen recruits waiting for their turn with the computer simulation.
The first recruit successfully defused the situation, even after the computer-generated man reached for a rolled-up flag to use as a weapon. Talking to the man, the officer got him to drop the flag and get on his knees without drawing his weapon.
Another recruit faced a very different outcome. When she failed to get the man to listen, he wielded the flag, moving as if to strike her. The recruit pulled out her gun and shot the computer-generated man three times, killing him.
“Think about this for a second,” Stewart said after that attempt, turning the lights back on.
Stewart walked the recruit through the scenario, asking questions along the way. What could the recruit have done as she approached the scene? What sorts of cues should she have been looking for? Why did she decide to fire? How could she have kept the situation from escalating to that point?
Scottie Frier, another instructor who specializes in de-escalation, starts his crisis communication classes with a question: Could recruits talk themselves into five situations that cause them to use force?
“If you agree with that, then let’s say, ‘All right, well, then let’s learn to talk ourselves out of five use-of-force situations,’” Frier said.
When new officers start at the academy, most have never faced the types of situations police deal with on a regular basis, said agency director Jackie Swindler. If they’ve never been in a fight or had someone take a swing at them, they may not know how to react the first time it happens, he said.
That could lead to a situation getting out of control and an officer using a weapon or other forceful tactics in a situation that could have had a peaceful outcome. Even if a person the officer is interacting with disobeys instructions, officers need to learn how to communicate first, before turning to other methods, he added.
Communication “is your best tool,” Swindler said new recruits learn. “That is your best weapon.”
It’s also most of what officers will do during their day-to-day jobs, Swindler said. Officers must understand how to handle all sorts of situations, including helping people having mental health crises and knowing when to report fellow officers for misconduct.
“Officers have to wear a lot of hats,” Swindler said. “They have to be counselors. They have to be preachers and teachers and then, of course, make people follow rules.”
The simulations come at the end of recruits’ 12-week training.
When new sheriff’s deputies, police officers and other law enforcement officers are first hired, they spend four weeks doing online courses with videos recorded by academy instructors, Swindler said.
That started in 2019, in an effort to remedy long wait times between hiring and training that left new officers in limbo, he said. At one point, recruits were waiting an average of 106 days to start their training, worsening vacancy rates in understaffed departments.
After each week of online material, recruits must pass a test to move onto the next week of training. At the end of the four weeks, every recruit must pass an in-person, cumulative exam, Swindler said.
Recruits who pass that test and a physical fitness exam start their in-person training within the following two weeks, depending on where they fall in the rotation.
At the academy’s campus in Columbia, new hires must learn legal basics, self-defense tactics and how to conduct traffic stops and sobriety tests. One week is dedicated entirely to firearms training, followed by two weeks of practical scenarios for recruits to use what they learned in approximations of real-world situations.
A small group of buildings, referred to as the village, allows recruits to practice routine traffic stops and rehearse scenarios in classrooms, banks and courthouses, including testifying during a mock hearing. In a warehouse with moveable walls and plush furniture, officers can practice clearing people out of homes, bars and schools in preparation for hostage situations or active shooters.
Instructors watch from a catwalk above.
“We try to replicate as much as we can,” Swindler said. “But those recruits, as much as we can make them stressed or nervous to see what it’s about, they know there are two things that are not going to happen: We’re not going to beat them up, and we’re not going to kill them.”
The training can be difficult, Swindler said.
Some recruits may flunk their academic tests, while others may not be physically fit enough to complete the obstacle courses. Sometimes, the academy has to dismiss students for having a bad attitude or being unprofessional, he said.
By the end of the 12 weeks, 73% of recruits graduate, said spokeswoman Mikie Pylilo.
“We kind of categorize ourselves as gatekeepers,” Swindler said.
As technology evolves, so does the academy’s training.
Officers must continue completing courses throughout their careers, with a required minimum of 40 hours of additional training due every three years, Swindler said. That may involve refreshers on the law or defensive tactics, but it may also mean updates to what officers learned when they first started.
Artificial intelligence is one area Swindler is watching closely. The academy isn’t yet updating its curriculum to include the technology and all its burgeoning uses, but as it becomes more popular, instructors may have to add it in the coming years, he said.
AI could be an asset for police, helping them analyze reports, find patterns and scrub large sources of data, such as body camera footage, Swindler said. It could also cause major problems if people can falsify videos and attempt to use those as evidence.
Officers will need to be aware of how to recognize an AI-generated video and be sure not to arrest a person based on a video alone, making sure they gather other evidence, Swindler said.
That’s another place where communication skills will come in handy.
“There are a lot of things that still would require old-fashioned policing,” Swindler said. “Talking, looking, smelling, touching, all those things.”
