Rasmussen College's Eagan campus includes an apartment, a bar, a grocery store and a bank. But you can't live, drink, shop or get any cash there.
Instead, the remodeled 8,000-square-foot skills training facility, which also features a large padded room, a video simulator and a designated crime lab, is designed to teach aspiring police officers how to do the things they'll have to do once they're on the streets, and how to deal with and defuse situations they might encounter.
It also offers local police departments a place to refresh their use-of-force training, a yearly requirement, free of charge.
"When Rasmussen looked at building this facility, they wanted to fulfill the students' needs, obviously, but at the same time they wanted to keep the community connection and partnerships they've had over the years by building a facility that not only the students could use but local law enforcement as well," said Mike Ardolf, a sworn officer for 24 years and coordinator of Rasmussen's skills program.
Students, both traditional and nontraditional — recent high school graduates, military veterans or those seeking a second career — respond to real-life scenarios with role players. In the fully furnished apartment, they might be called to a domestic disturbance or have to take a report of an auto theft. At the grocery store, it might be a shoplifter, someone with counterfeit money or an emotionally disturbed customer. At the bar, it might be a customer fussing when he or she is cut off. At the bank, it might be a robbery.
They learn what to ask and when to ask it. At first, an instructor is with each student. Later, the student goes it alone.
In the padded room, skills such as the use-of-force continuum, Tasers, handcuffing, hand-to-hand combat and other physically dangerous components of law enforcement are taught. In the crime lab, they learn fingerprinting, how to gather evidence and how to process a crime scene. In the video simulator, there are hundreds of scenarios, such as shoot/don't shoot drills. Students must complete a minimum of 20 different scenarios before they are eligible to take the licensing exam.
An open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony were held at the Eagan facility Wednesday, although some parts of it have been in use since last fall. Rasmussen still must conduct firearms training with live ammunition at the SCALE (Scott County Association of Leadership and Efficiency) facility in Jordan, but it had to conduct all of its skills training there before opening the new Eagan facility.
