Counties Nationwide Invest in More Police Training

Police departments stand to gain much from additional law enforcement training. Check out these rural areas that are investing in various specialized training.

For some police departments, investing in additional training is a financial boon for the entire department. Regular training can lead to insurance discounts, renewed knowledge transferal, and a close-knit department.

Read the following examples of rural areas across the country that employ various sheriff department training courses and safety programs.

• Jasper County in Missouri mandates that all deputies and officers receive extra behind-the-wheel training for braking and evasive maneuvers in both daily driving and high-speed chase scenarios. Officers are required to complete the specialized police training once a year, which secures the department an insurance discount of $14,000.

• The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and the Aiken Department of Public Safety outside Augusta, Georgia just participated in a two-day law enforcement training for female officers sponsored by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Association. The survival course aims to teach women how to use their strength and physique to defend themselves in different violent attacks.

• Two members of the domestic violence intervention division of Prince George’s County Office in Maryland graduated from the Roper Victim Assistance Academy of Maryland in early June. The training program, which covers victims’ rights and victim advocacy, gave two officers new knowledge to share with the rest of their unit.

• The Mesa County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado received AED devices (Automated External Defibrillator) for their Rural Area Division officers, who often arrive on a scene before ambulances with EMS personnel. The rural police officers were trained how to properly use the life-saving tool, requiring lessons in monitoring heart rhythm and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Those officers who patrol the parks and back country areas said this kind of sheriff deputy training will save hikers, bikers, firefighters, and others out in the wilderness.

As Margaret Moore, an investigator for the Aiken Department of Public Safety, said “As a police officer, anytime there is training available, you should go.”

Would you argue with her? I didn’t think so.

Safety and Training are High on Agenda for ET&D Partnership

The Electrical Transmission and Distribution Strategic Partnership focuses on enhanced safety training. For member partners, the benefits are stacking up.

Real steps are being taken to enhance the safety of power line workers who perform one of the most dangerous yet essential jobs in the country. The Electrical Transmission and Distribution Strategic Partnership, a rallying of trade associations, unions, and contractors, dedicated a week in May to nothing but safety initiatives. The event falls neatly in line with the partnership’s history of safety-focused efforts.

Since its 2004 conception between ET&D employers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the positive results have been plentiful. Among member partners, their joint efforts yielded fewer fatalities, lower injury and illness rates, and more transmission and distribution training.

In the span of two years, more than 13,300 workers received electrical transmission and distribution training in an industry-specific OSHA 10-hour outreach program. Around the same time, almost 6,000 managers and supervisors added to their qualifications with a Supervisory Leadership Skills training course. Power line safety is a top priority, and quality workplace environments and leadership reduce some level of hazard.

Power line safety should be a steady priority, especially as gas and electric companies are making serious investments to meet growing energy needs. Between two utility companies, the Louisville Gas and Electric Company and the Kentucky Utilities Company, more than 4,000 generation, transmission, and electric and gas distribution projects occurred in the past two years. New projects, like a proposed natural gas line in the same area, require more workers. And new hires often need transmission line training or enhanced safety training to truly fit the bill.

Other eastern regions are investing in similar projects. The Local Infrastructure and Transmission Enhancement (LITE) initiative in New Jersey has completed 24 individual projects since 2011, and it’s still going strong. More than $8 million worth of LITE projects are slated for completion by the end of the year. It seems customers are seeing the benefits of improved transmission lines and upgraded equipment as power line workers see the benefits of targeted safety efforts and ET&D training.

Due to a rise in productivity from fewer workplace accidents and better-trained workers, the benefits are seeping into customer service. Skilled workers with fewer safety concerns will do a better job and create more satisfied customers.

Sounds like the ET&D Strategic Partnership has the right idea.

Questions Raised After Shoplifter Dies in Hands of Wal-Mart Security

As Wal-Mart security guards just discovered, altercations can turn deadly in seconds. Is your team equipped with the appropriate security guard training?

The death of an alleged shoplifter in a Southern California Wal-Mart is still being investigated. After attempting to steal clothes and body wash on Friday, June 1, a man was chased down by security officers and restrained in the parking lot. As soon as police arrived, paramedics were called and the suspect was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. Although Wal-Mart is appropriately regretful, the unknown cause of death is odd, and questionable.

Why wasn’t it apparent that the suspect was in medical distress before Covina Department police officers arrived? While officials await autopsy results to draw conclusions, perhaps Wal-Mart should consider investing in more security guard training for their team. Whether there was a breakdown in leadership, police relations or physical procedure, equipping guards with extra security officer training is routinely beneficial. Regardless, we won’t be surprised if Wal-Mart sees some flak from this tragedy.

More training may help avoid wrongful death scenarios, and it will help protect more security officers, too. Oak Cliff, Texas is still mourning the loss of a security guard from an attempted robbery at a Bank of America last August. Wednesday was the first day of the murder trial for the accused, Courtland King, stirring emotional testimonies from bank tellers and relatives of the deceased guard. Another security guard was hospitalized after sustaining gunshots in a nightclub in Newark, New Jersey. The second gunshot victim, a patron of the club, died at the hospital.

When altercations can turn deadly in seconds, effective leadership and communication skills among guards are essential. But, it’s important to give a security team all the tools it needs, including security supervisor training, management training, and beyond, before a bad situation gets worse. Since many security guards have only a high school diploma or GED equivalent, they must be taught how to deal with life-or-death circumstances. Advanced security guard training keeps more people safe, plus it maximizes employee potential as an investment.

The rate of adults with only some college is both surprising and growing, which puts many jobs out of reach. However, adding security manager training to a high school education makes that employee significantly more valuable. And while job growth for the security industry as a whole is pretty average, technology and transportation security concerns are adding to the field’s overall demand. Considering the increasing need of TSA (Transportation Security Administration) screeners and their recent public embarrassment, a wealth of well-trained security officers may come in handy.

Poorly trained security guards, or transportation screeners, don’t make anyone look good. More importantly, they put lives at risk instead of protecting them.

Environmentalists and Politicians Struggle to Improve Chemical Plant Safety Measures

A group of environmental and public health organizations are calling for stricter safety legislation for chemical plants. We can start by offering chemical plant training.

A decade after 9/11, environmental and public health officials are once more bringing attention to the potential terrorist threat posed by chemical plants nationwide.

Mid-May, a score of environmental, public health, and labor organizations wrote a letter to President Obama calling for revised safety rules for chemical plants. But these guys are familiar with the Congressional game—new legislation is even less likely to get passed now than when former-Senator Obama initially introduced it in 2006.

The coalition of environmental agencies informed the current administration that the Environmental Protection Agency could implement new safety protocol of its own according to the Clean Air Act. Part of the issue is that the existing chemical safety law doesn’t encourage or incentivize the chemical industry to use safer chemicals and overall processes.

However, the National Association of Chemical Distributors disagrees. President Chris Jahn responded that the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards have already addressed many of these concerns. According to Jahn, some 3,000 sites have lowered risk by volunteering to change chemical ingredients and processes. Jahn argues that we should continue to enforce the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards instead of adding more regulations.

But there’s another solution that would likely help alleviate safety concerns for chemical plants. As the number of skilled manufacturing and chemical operators wanes, the industry turns to chemical plant training. But, training your workforce doesn’t have to be an overwhelming burden for plant owners. Courses in chemical plant operator training are offered at affordable prices online, and you can construct a curriculum based on improving safety regulations.

By transferring knowledge from quality employees on the cusp of retiring to new workers, individual skill sets can be tailored to specific chemical processes, plants, or changes. That level of personalized chemical operations training enhances safety and reduces public risk.

Not to mention, how else can the industry target and harness the raw—albeit untrained—talent of the unemployed? American youth has been especially crippled by unemployment rates, which is the same group that needs to rekindle an interest in chemical plants, manufacturing, welding, and other vocational trades.

In fact, MSNBC says the manufacturing industry will need 140,000 welders by 2019. So, the American Welding Society added a welding merit badge for Boy Scouts to start training young boys. Although there will likely never be a badge for chemical plant operations, the idea of training youth for tradesmen positions is still sound. Young adults equipped with chemical plant operator training have more to offer their industry, and they become an economic asset.

If you truly want to protect the public from chemical accidents or terrorist threats, properly trained chemical operators will both uphold the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards and instigate further progressive measures.