Attending the 2014 Missouri Sheriff's Training Summer Conference

This last week I once again attended the summer Missouri Sheriff's Conference. This conference is held in a different city each year, and this year it took place in St. Charles, Mo.

This is the second summer conference I have attended, and again, it was full of good training and a chance to meet and visit with other Sheriffs from around the state.

This year, guest speakers talked about a number of topics such as outlaw motorcycle gangs that are becoming more common in Missouri, tattoos and their meanings, officer survival, which was a class on officer involved shootings or dramatic events taking place involving law enforcement, as well as many other topics on new state and federal laws.

One of the speakers at the conference was a retired Police Chief from New Jersey named John Bouthillette.

In December of 2000, Bouthillette was serving as a Lt. Investigator for the South River Police Department.

When Bouthillette heard officers being dispatched to a call of shots fired, he happened to be only a few blocks away.

Bouthillette was riding with his Police Chief and when they pulled up to the address and Bouthillette started to get out of the car, he was shot in the side with a 12 gauge shotgun. Bouthillette tried to draw his gun, but was shot again through the windshield and hit in the back and arm.

The Police Chief fired at the suspect and hit him once in the center of the chest and once in the head, but the gunman did not go down and still returned fire, shooting the Chief as well.

Both men lay in the snow bleeding until additional officers arrived and after exchanging more fire, the gunman was finally stopped.

Bouthillette told about the things he did wrong, and the things he did right. He told about how the things he trained on the most were the things that came natural in that moment of life and death, and he identified the things he should have trained on more.

There are some things that many departments do not think to have in place because to do so, you have to plan for the unthinkable.

Bouthillette mentioned how just the processes of notifying his wife could have been done better if they had put better policies in place. Bouthillette's wife was notified by phone that he had been shot several times and was on his way to the hospital.

Bouthillette had been hit in the lung, liver and kidney just from the first blast of the shotgun.

His wife collapsed on the floor when she heard the news, and was found by two officers who were sent to take her to her husband at the hospital. Bouthillette was scheduled to go on vacation the following day and had promised his wife he would not get involved in anything so he would be home on time.

Bouthillette did make a full recovery over time, although he still has several bullets in him that could not be removed.

There can never be enough training and preparation, because we never know what tomorrow will bring.

My goal is to make sure our deputies have the best training we can get and see that they make it home to their families at the end of each day.