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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2002: article | |
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Penn State Fayette offers critical incident training By Melanie Dawn Thomas | ||||||
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Gunshots pop around campus. A man lies on the floor of a classroom. Armed SWAT teams roam Penn State Fayette. Fortunately the gunshots are cap guns, and the man is a situation actor, as southwestern Pennsylvania police and sheriff departments receive critical incident survival and police training from Penn State Fayette Continuing Education. Over the past year, some 200 officers have received training in a variety of emergency response situations, from school emergencies to self-defense to weapons tactics. An extensive staff of more than 40 law enforcement professionals, including retired state police, FBI and U.S. Marshals, teaches the training, which is tailored to suit different groups, including law enforcement, business professionals, school administrators and citizens. Lt. Kirk Hessler of North Franklin Township Police Department and assistant instructors Ret. Asst. Chief Carl Nagy, Det. Sgt. Rich Horner and Chief John Hartman, travel to Penn State Fayette regularly to instruct local police and SWAT forces on Critical Incident Response to School Emergencies. This training addresses violent situations in schools and similar complex buildings. Hessler and his assistants began the campus’ first program last December. It has become so popular that Ted Mellors, Penn State Fayette assistant director of Continuing Education, expects to conduct at least 12 more programs by December 2002. “The Columbine tragedy changed the way emergency and police personnel have to respond to violent situations like that,” Horner said. “In a case where only perhaps four or five officers are present and a SWAT team has not yet arrived, we are giving them the skills necessary to move forward into the situation on their own.” These skills include knowing how to determine danger areas and how to handle different scenarios, as well as how to move through complex areas, while still keeping track of each other and working together in investigating dangerous areas. Added Nagy, “In other words, we are teaching them how to walk into a room and not get shot.” According to the instructors, in 2001, the Institute of Municipal Police Officers conducted a four-hour block of related training. The two-day course instruction taught at Penn State Fayette builds upon that earlier training. While Penn State Fayette’s new facilities often provide the ideal location for these training programs, the campus’ Continuing Education Department also arranges such training off campus, at local sites convenient to the students. Penn State Fayette Continuing Education now has an expansive police and security training program, but the campus did not offer that type of programming when Mellors joined the staff 15 years ago. “I was directing the continuing medical education effort, when a local constable approached me regarding an RFP (request for proposal) for a national curriculum for constable training. The curriculum request specified a large block of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and related training, which we could easily provide. We won the contract and went on to investigate and develop the other aspects of constable training.” That curriculum won the 1998 Association for Continuing Higher Education award as the number one Noncredit Program in the nation. This curriculum led to the expansive program Mellors operates today. Sgt. James Baranowski has been an instructor with Penn State Fayette for the past five to six years and teaches a variety of courses, some of which result in certification, such as the ASP (baton) certification course and the OC (hot pepper spray) certification course. In April, he instructed local school administrators on how to address security issues, how to identify possible threats, liability and investigative issues and more. “There is a fine line between what a person can and cannot legally do to defend themselves,” Baranowski said. “I teach techniques that are not only legal, but safe and often more effective.” According to Mellors, Baranowski is capable of providing further instruction in areas such as modern domestic terrorism, karate and other forms of defense and more. Sgt. John Rock of the Pennsylvania State Police in Greensburg has visited Penn State Fayette several times in the past year, instructing local police and security professionals on topics ranging from the body’s response to acts of violence and aggression to the proper way to contain a violent or agitated suspect. Rock and his assistant, Dianne Marcinak, use years of experience as well as new research to prepare officers for situations ahead of time. Marcinak noted that critical incident training is not just for officers of the law. “A woman walking out of the mall, a pizza delivery boy, teachers and corporate administrators—anyone can benefit from critical incident training,” she said. Rock explained that he and Marcinak customize this type of mental exercise for different groups, depending on various sensitivities and needs. According to Mellors, the future of Penn State Fayette critical response and police training programs is more and more growth. He and instructor Hessler are working on an advanced critical incident response course, as well as refresher courses in both introductory and advanced levels. They are also working on new, potentially statewide curriculum for school police and security. “Right now, there is no standardized curriculum across the Commonwealth for school security and police. Administrators are locating training from varying sources with varying techniques,” Mellors said. “Kirk and I are currently designing a curriculum that would address all areas of security issues in schools, from techniques to liability and legal issues.” Through these programs and future efforts, Penn State Fayette is working to make life safer for Pennsylvania’s law enforcement personnel and citizens. | |||||
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© 2002 Outreach Communications, Outreach & Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108, fax: (814) 863-2765, e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu |
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