IA POST case studies

IA POST · Put your knowledge to work in context.

The Iowa Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) is the State of Iowa's training body for public safety personnel, and its site describes its mission as "providing quality training" and creating "professional law enforcement personnel" whose goal is "to serve the people of Iowa." The Academy organizes its work under three disciplines: Basic Academy, Reserve Officers, and Public Safety Telecommunicators. Importantly, the pages that would normally describe a POST exam - including the site's /post and /post-commission addresses - returned "not found" errors when checked, so no verified information about a written exam, question count, time limit, passing score, fee, or retake policy is available here. The IA POST case studies are 5 cases and about 4,139 words.

Two-Hour Window: An OWI Stop With a Refusal and an Open Container

At 0142 hours you stop a pickup on a four-lane arterial for a burned-out taillight. The driver, a 34-year-old man, has bloodshot, watery eyes, and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage comes from the cab.

921 words, about 5 min 2

Knife in the Front Yard: A Mental Health Call With a Camera Rolling

At 2215 a woman calls to report that her 27-year-old son, who has schizophrenia, is standing in the front yard holding a kitchen knife and saying that 'they're coming through the walls.' He has not threatened anyone, there are no warrants, and a call eleven months ago ended with a voluntary transport after he set the knife down. The yard is lit by a single porch light.

876 words, about 4 min 3

Reserve Alone at the County Fair: Authority, Crowd, and a Felony in Progress

You are a Reserve Peace Officer working a six-hour shift at a county fairgrounds on a Friday night. Your certification and the chief's written policy allow you to patrol alone in a marked unit, but the policy also states that a reserve officer will not take a person into custody for a felony without a full-time officer present unless life safety requires immediate action.

665 words, about 3 min 4

Whisper on a Dead Line: A 911 Hang-Up With a Gun

It is 0130 on a Tuesday at a consolidated 911 center covering a county of 31,000. A call arrives on an administrative line: four seconds of silence, then a woman's voice whispers, 'He's got a gun.

834 words, about 4 min 5

One Dispatcher, Two Lines: An Infant Not Breathing and a Break-In

At 0322 on a Sunday you are the only telecommunicator on duty in a county of 14,000. Line 1 is a 22-year-old mother screaming that her 5-week-old is not breathing and 'is turning blue.' Line 2 is a clerk at a convenience store reporting a man in a ski mask who just broke the front window and is still outside.

843 words, about 4 min