Texarkana, Texas, Police Department had a clear message for city officials visiting from across the region Thursday. "We are serious about training. Very serious," Lt. Shawn Fitzgerald told a meeting of the East Texas City Managers Association at TTPD's Special Operations and Training Center.
"I hope you understand that what we're doing here is not a fly-by-night operation. What we're doing here, we're trying to serve our brothers in blue. We want to be the best," he said.
Mayor Bob Bruggeman, City Manager John Whitson, Police Chief Dan Shiner and others welcomed city managers and law enforcement leaders from more than 15 East Texas cities. They came from as far away as Bullard and Carthage to hear Fitzgerald's presentation on TTPD's new role in training fellow officers.
Last November, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement designated TTPD as an official training provider. The department's 24 qualified instructors now can give officers the training they need to maintain their licenses and achieve proficiency certifications. TTPD also will offer specialized classes, including advanced interview techniques, fraud investigation and SWAT schools.
A full schedule of courses is under way, with more to come. "We have training scheduled every month for the next six months. And that's not going to stop," Fitzgerald said.
He emphasized the department's scheduling flexibility and broad variety of training topics, from field sobriety testing to forensic data recovery to possibly the most important-defensive tactics.
"Our use of force last year doubled. Now I'm not saying we laid hands on them, because we carry those JPX Cobra pepperball guns, but our use of force reports we had doubled. There's a problem. I don't know if you're seeing it, but we're seeing it," Fitzgerald said.
"They're testing us. They're getting more and more to the point that they're not going to submit to our will. And so defensive tactics, I would argue, is probably one of the most important up-and-coming courses that everybody needs training in."
He also spotlighted a growing need for mobile field force, or riot control, training.
"We're one call away from the poop hitting the fan. And it's not your local residents generally you have to worry about. It's the folks coming in from out of town, the professional organizers," he said.
Patrol Lt. Brannon Robertson of White Oak Police Department welcomed having an alternative training choice.
"It gives us another option for getting training we may not be able to get somewhere else," he said.
After the presentation, guests were invited to tour the Training Center and try out its Laser Shot digital shooting simulator, which is used to provide firearms training without expending ammunition.
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