While their classmates head to math or English, students at the Whiteside Area Career Center are taking part in mock trials and learning how to deescalate suspects – all as part of real-world law enforcement training.

The program provides high school students from across the Sauk Valley with hands-on experience in criminal justice, preparing them for careers in law enforcement, corrections and related fields through classroom instruction and scenario-based learning.

“The program mimics if they were ever to get hired by a police department,” instructor Michael Wolfley said. “I set it up throughout the year... as if they’re going through a police academy. I run them through the same type of situations, scenarios and training.”

The program’s major objectives include:

• History of law enforcement
• Constitutional law
• Illinois law
• Courts and the legal system
• Communication and dispatch operations
• Report writing and records
• Criminal investigations
• Search and seizure
• Community relations
• Patrol functions
• Traffic investigations
• Corrections
• Private security operations
• Criminology and other related areas

Students also visit the Whiteside and Lee County jails, hear from local attorneys and judges, go on ride-alongs with local officers, and participate in mock trials and real-world law enforcement scenarios where they are tasked with making tough decisions.

“In a couple of weeks, we’ll be doing taser training, and then they’ll be going into scenarios with a partner, where they’ll encounter somebody,” Wolfley said. “They’re going to have to decide if they can talk them down with verbal directions, or does the person rise to a threat level where they gotta tase them or possibly rise to a situation where they gotta use lethal force?”

Wolfley hopes to take the program a step further with the addition of a shooting simulator – a tool that would allow students to practice high-pressure decision-making in a safe, controlled environment. He plans to purchase the equipment using a recent donation from the Whiteside County CrimeStoppers.

“It’d be nice to get a squad car donated to us someday,” Wolfley said. “The nice thing with that is when we do our traffic stop scenarios, Sterling has been gracious every year, letting us use one of their older squad cars.”

Since retiring from the Dixon Police Department, Wolfley’s broader mission has been to spark long-term interest in law enforcement careers and build up the region’s future public safety workforce.

“The goal was for me to come here and help regain that interest in our area youth... so that maybe we feed some kids into the Sauk [Valley Community College] program, and then build our own local talent so that everybody can have good officers coming up the pipe in the future,” Wolfley said.

Milledgeville High School senior Kayden Knutti said he is considering pursuing a career in law enforcement at the state or federal level.

“I find the career path fascinating, and I want to help people,” Knutti said. “I really enjoy the different scenarios. We did one on cuffing people. It’s just not something I expected we’d actually get to do in the class.”

Morrison High School senior Ryan Peppers said he plans to study criminal justice at Sauk Valley Community College after graduation.

“I’ve wanted to be a cop ever since I was little. That or the Army,” Peppers said. “I’d like to be a Morrison cop or somewhere local. This class is great. Instead of sitting around for eight hours, you get to do hands-on stuff.”

Wolfley said several former students have gone on to careers in dispatch and corrections, including positions at state prisons. Now in his fifth year of teaching, he is starting to see his earliest students reach the age to enter law enforcement.

“I just had my very first student graduate from the Sauk [Valley Community College] police academy, and he’s joined the Sterling PD,” Wofley said. “Another student is joining the academy this spring, and a third student just asked if he could use me for a reference and will be testing in the area soon. I always tell the seniors to get ahold of me when the time comes and I’ll help any way I can.”

Although he knows that not every student who takes the program will pursue a career in law enforcement, Wolfley hopes the experience leaves a lasting, positive impact.

“I hope that they leave a better person,” Wolfley said. “I like to see the kids come in from the different schools. In the first couple of weeks, everybody’s quiet. But by the end of the year, they’ve gelled together and formed some good bonds. I’ve seen some good friendships between other schools form, and that’s the best thing.”

The WACC is a cooperative endeavor of 16 member school districts and three parochial schools, educating students who come from five counties: Bureau, Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside, according to WACC’s website. Most of the population is from Sterling, Rock Falls and Dixon, with the remainder residing in surrounding rural areas and small towns.

For more information, visit wacc.com.