In 15 years as a Montgomery County police officer, Luis Carvajal has never fired a shot.
“I’ve pulled my gun several times, I’ve fought a couple of times, but I’ve never fired,” he said. He paused and raised his eyebrows. “However, I’ve done a lot of driving.”
Contrary to cop show shoot-outs, Carvajal’s experience is typical. Now, as the driving instructor for the Montgomery County Police Academy, the brawny officer is a self-proclaimed pain in the neck for aspiring officers who dream of pursuit.
At first, he lets them pretend. Recruits spend several mornings of their weeklong driver training tearing around cones in figure-eight patterns on the department’s Rockville training course. “But once their adrenaline is flowing,” he said, “I sit them down in front of statistics.”
He can cite them off the top of his head — reaction times, feet traveled per second, hours behind the wheel, deaths. Of the 15 officer deaths in the history of Montgomery police, eight have resulted from vehicle crashes.
“I tell them if we catch the bad guy, it’s because we drive the car better,” he said. Carvajal then stood and started running in place. “It should be like the cartoon.” He started flailing his arms and legs. “We wait till the bad guy screws up, and then …” He resumed a controlled pace. “And then we’re behind him all along to catch him.”
