P.E.I. police instructors recount Baton Rouge shootings

Wayne Rudderham has a message for cadets at the Atlantic Police Academy when he returns to P.E.I. be sharp and aware of your surroundings at all times.

Rudderham and fellow police academy instructor Leslie Hadfield went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana last week to attend a conference and receive recognition for their work. The were touring the police department's training centreSunday morning when three police officers were shot and three others wounded.

Scary and surreal

Rudderham described the experience as "scary" and "surreal," especially when the instructors realized the shootings occurred about a block-and-a-half from the police station.

"To me, it's a real eye-opener and it's more emphasis on bringing our cadets and [the] people we train to be more aware and more vigilant of their surroundings and what's happening," Rudderhamtold Island Morning's Matt Rainniefrom Baton Rouge.

Hadfield recalled seeing police cars with their sirens activated and how the situation escalated from an officer down, to two and then three.

Instructors humbled, honouredby awards

"It was just increasingly more intense, more horrific. That we were right in the middle, right down town where the shootings were happening," she said.

At the conference, Rudderham and Hadfield were awarded Instructor of the Year by State and Provincial Police Academy Directors.

"It's extremely humbling," said Hadfield, who teaches social sciences at the college.

Hadfield teaches officers how to interact with people with mental illness who are in crisis.

Rudderham is a use-of-force instructor. He said his award recognition wasn't expected.

"It was an honour to receive it," he said.

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