Putting A Little Swat In Every Cop
The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center, created last year, offers a nationwide, cost-effective, intense training program for all law enforcement groups.
The program consists of classroom training, mock exercises employing paintball-style weapons, and interactive simulation technology that re-creates several risky real-life situations.
Video-based training enables officers to practice in a hands-on atmosphere in situations they may have experienced and ultimately offers a measurement tool to determine their judgment in such scenarios, according to center officials.
ALERRT has so far instructed around 750 officials in Texas, where the center is headquartered, in the last year. The center has three operational high-tech firing ranges on its almost 200-acre locale, although it does not have a central building for classes, exercises, and training.
Instructors have instead been traveling to schools and additional public facilities across Texas.
While the center has obtained a $485,000 grant from the Department of Justice, it is pursuing $6 million to construct a new training facility.
A longer-term objective is to establish a “train the trainer” program, a two-week endeavor that would permit the center to instruct officers from around the United States so they, in turn, can instruct their colleagues.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from Federal Computer Week (09/22/03); Sarkar, Dibya.
