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Members of the Troup County Sheriff’s Office went through real life high risk traffic scenarios Thursday where the results could be deadly.

“This is our annual traffic stop training that we do because there is only so much you can do in a classroom,” TCSO Sgt. Stewart Smith said.

“This is hands on where our deputies are given scenarios that we have encountered here or something we have seen across the nation. It gives those who may not do traffic stops a lot the opportunity to have a refresher.”

Some of the scenarios played out resulted in both positive and negative endings.

If an officer was distracted by one of the criminals’ role playing, another person was able to shoot the officer with paint ball bullets.

“We use role players that are actually on our staff that are in our training division or traffic division,” Smith said. “One of the goals from this is that hopefully the community can have a better understanding of how we do our job. We are not just out here to pull everybody over or pick on people.”

In every situation, a TCSO officer would pull over an unmarked van that had someone equipped with combat training paint ball pistols that they could use if the officer made a mistake or was distracted.

“The reaction time is sometimes a matter of a split second rather than just a few minutes,” Smith said. “It’s good for our deputies to have that refresher to check their reaction time. Once the scenarios are over we are able to do a critique whether it be good or bad. We are able to show them things they could do better.”

Each deputy Thursday went through approximately four to five scenarios all ranging in different intensity levels.

“Each one we try and mix them up a little bit so they are not seeing the same one over and over again,” Smith said. “One of the goals is to make it a winnable situation where no pulls a gun. That is the goal every day for deputies or public safety officials is to go home every day.”

Smith said the point of the training is not to set them up to fail it but to set them up where they can go home alive every single day.