Before the Badge: Lubbock Police Recruits preparing to respond in darkest moments

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Four months into the Lubbock Police Academy, recruits took on their most physically demanding challenge yet. They’ve spent weeks in the classroom learning the law, in the gym building strength, on the mat learning how to defend themselves. They have to put all of those skills together for one final defensive tactics exam.

Before that, though, recruits faced a new challenge on the gun range - firing their weapons in the dark. It’s often in the darkest moments when people need a police officer.

Recruits have to pass two qualifying exams in the nighttime hours. After all, they will most likely start their new career on the night shift.

While they’re being graded, these recruits say the range is where they have the most fun.

“Going out to the range is always a good time. But getting to play around with the flashlights, running the alphabet soup, trying to operate under the pressure of them yelling at you, it’s a good challenge. It’s a lot of fun,” Recruit Laythan Stapp said.

In the morning light, recruits took on their next challenge - learning how to conduct a traffic stop. They practiced using their radio, with a dispatcher-in-training on the other end.

They listened to advice about where to keep their eyes and the right words to say to enforce the law, while keeping a situation under control.

“You think you have it all down, then you get into the moment and you’re like, you missed that little thing. Like shutting the door too hard, when you’re reading off the license to dispatch, putting it up on the steering wheel so you can maintain visibility on the vehicle. So, just little things like that, that you forget once you’re up there in the moment,” Recruit Tyler Bowles said.

Bowles grew up in Lubbock and was looking for a more challenging career to support his family, one that’s starting soon, with his wedding coming up on Saturday.

“Right in the middle of all this chaos. It’s stressful, but it’s, we didn’t really have a perfect time for it, so this is what we have,” he said.

Just how stressful the academy can be was on full display inside one classroom, as recruits prepared for their defensive tactics final exam.

The recruits prayed together, before being given their instructions. They can’t talk about the test until everyone has taken it, out of fairness.

The exam takes everything they’ve learned so far in the classroom, the gym and on the mat into consideration, starting with a traffic stop.

The simulated stop escalated quickly, mimicking what recruits could face on the street. They chased the “suspect” back into the gym, where the doors were closed and KCBD’s cameras weren’t allowed inside.

After the exam, recruits were checked to make sure their blood pressure and heart rate settled back down.

“Even though I’ve had some time to process it, you know, heart’s still beating fast. That was the toughest fight I’ve been in. They really pushed us in there. It was a lot,” Stapp said.

While the test pushes the recruits to their limits, the department has to know they can handle difficult situations the right way.

“Everything that we do is dictated by something in a book. We have to know our penal code. We have to know our CCP. We have to know our, just even, LPD policy manual, we have to know all of those. You know, when we are allowed to do something, when we aren’t allowed to do something, what are limiting factors in there and you have to be able to recall that before, during and after a fight,” he said.

On top of all of that, they have to recall the technique that could save their life.

“The whole reason they teach us anything about defensive tactics is so that we’re able to go home at the end of the shift,” Stapp said.

After 18 weeks, Class 2025 Alpha has lost another recruit, and is now down from 16 to 10. KCBD NewsChannel 11 will continue following this challenging journey Before the Badge.