Varied training kept Plover officer safe, officials say

PLOVER – When Plover Officer Andrew Hopfensperger pulled over a gold truck on Highway 54 on a Friday night, he had no idea he was about to put his training to the ultimate test.

Until August, no Plover officer had ever shot another human being in the line of duty. For the most part, their pistols had been used only for range practice and to dispatch the occasional deer that strayed into traffic.

That changed on Aug. 8, when Hopfensperger drew his firearm and shot and injured Brett Lieberman during a traffic stop on Highway 54 in Plover. Police reports say Lieberman exited his vehicle and charged at Hopfensperger while holding a knife. Hopfensperger blocked several stab attempts before pushing Lieberman away, drawing his weapon and firing several times while Lieberman continued to stab at him, according to court records. Lieberman faces an Oct. 6 hearing on a charge of first-degree attempted homicide and is jailed on a $100,000 cash bond.

The Plover Police Department cleared the officer to return to duty Sept. 1, but has taken a hard look at its training to decide what worked, what didn't and what officers can learn from it, officials said. Meanwhile, they say they also are keeping an eye on Hopfensperger to make sure he's coping well since the incident.

The consensus so far within the department is that the training Plover employs, which includes techniques that go beyond the standard manual for law enforcement, worked well during that August incident.

Hopfensperger used techniques from a defense system called SPEAR to fend off his attacker before shooting, according to Plover Police Capt. Gary Widder, based on debriefings with Hopfensperger. Developed by martial artist Tony Blaur, SPEAR uses the body's natural reactions and turns them into a defense system.

Widder said the training is crucial because real situations rarely reflect standard, by-the-book scenarios. The training must be realistic and reflect a variety of possible scenarios an officer might encounter.

"I tell my officers that each technique is another tool in their tool belt," Widder said. "But some tools end up being more effective than others."

Widder credits training officer Jim Decker and the rest of the training staff for constantly seeking out new techniques and defense systems to keep Plover officers safe. Decker is the type of person who uses his vacation days to attend seminars and conferences on defense tactics, Widder said.

The department won't conduct additional training in light of the shooting in Plover, Widder said, but might choose to focus more on firearms and defense tactics. Recently, officers trained in various shooting situations, focusing on unusual settings such as shooting into and from a car.

"Scenarios in real life rarely look like they do in the movies," Widder said.

No amount of training can teach someone how to cope with the realities of shooting another human being, however. Hopfensperger, who was hired by the Plover Police Department in 2006, declined to be interviewed for this story, but Plover Chief Dwayne Wierzba and Widder both said Hopfensperger is back to all his regular duties and seems by all accounts to be doing fine. Hopsfenberger is making traffic stops and responding to calls just as he did before the shooting incident.

But everyone responds to traumatic experiences differently, said Marshfield Clinic Clinical Psychologist Jennifer Michels. Some people exhibit almost no symptoms of trauma while others are deeply affected.

Others can seem fine at first but later show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, Michels said.

Supervisors in Plover will keep checking with Hopfensperger to make sure he's doing OK, Widder said.

"We're a law enforcement family," Widder said. "We've got each other's backs."

That support has been, and continues to be, crucial to Hopfensperger and the department, Wierzba said.

"Throughout the process, a lot of officers in our agency and other agencies have been supportive," the chief said. "Whatever we can do to help smooth the transition, we will attempt to do."

B.C. Kowalski can be reached at 715-345-2251. Find him on Twitter as @BCreporter.