Mansfield University Home Page09-201 - Legal Update: Best Practices and Current Issues for Law Enforcement (3 hour required)
This three-hour Mandatory In-Service Training (MIST) course covers legal issues affecting municipal police officers throughout the Commonwealth. The course, a required class in the MIST curriculum over the past eighteen years, will cover topics such as, new criminal and traffic laws, Rules of Criminal Procedure updates, and changes in other statutes related to law enforcement.
The 2009 course will update municipal police officers on "best practices" which may be used in subject areas such as, Eyewitness Identification, Custodial Interrogations, Informant Testimony, Forensic Science, Strip Searches and it will provide an overview of Pennsylvania's Statewide Automated Victims Information and Notification Service (PA SAVIN).
The course will also address landmark United States Supreme Court opinions and current Pennsylvania court decisions regarding Search and Seizure as well as other pertinent criminal and traffic case law.
09-329 - Officer Safety Awareness XIII - Police Stress Awareness (3 hour Elective)
No matter the color of their uniforms, police officers walk a thin blue line every day. Sometimes that line itself can wear an officer's psyche thin to the point of breaking. Studies show that men and women involved in law enforcement have among the highest rates of divorce, alcoholism and suicide. On average somewhere in America, a law enforcement officer is killed in-the-line-of-duty every 54 hours. Law enforcement officers often pay another price that doesn't make the headlines or most statistics, yet it is one that still destroys lives. Stress is law enforcement's hidden assailant. Police work itself can be a killer.
Section 1 will examine the causes of police stress; including physiological and psychological stressors and methods of coping with them including: nutrition, exercise, and adjusting sleep patterns that can impact on overall heatlh and wellness.
Section 2 will review the physical, behavioral, and emotional effects of stress.
Section 3 will discuss CISD and CISM. Critical Incident Stress De-Briefing (CISD) is a specific technique designed to assist others in dealing with the physical or psychological symptoms that are generally associated with trauma exposure. Debriefing allows those involved with the incident to process the event and reflect on its impact. Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is an adaptive short term helping process that focuses solely on an immediate and identifiable problem to enable the individual(s) affected to return to their daily routine(s) more quickly and with a lessened likelihood of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.
09-330 Crisis and Emergency Management (3 hour Elective)
This course will address the following topical areas:
- Procedures for declaring a state of emergency in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
- Role and responsibilities of police officers during a declared state of emergency.
- Statutory biases for police actions, use of force, and any special responsibilities.
- Continuity of Operations Plans.
- Continuity of Government Plans.
- Coordination of efforts between law enforcement, Department of Health, PEMA, and the Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania.
- Role of police relating to Strategic National Stockpile security and distribution issues.
- Role of police relating to voluntary and involuntary Isolation and Quarantine orders.
- Statutory authority
- Use of force issues
- Remedies for non-compliance with declared orders
- Use of resources such as:
- Federal-Center for Disease Control; FEMA; Health & Human Services
- State-Department of Health; PEMA
- Applicable Federal and State Statutes and Case Law.
The principles and topical areas listed above will be presented and debriefed using case studies, current examples and realistic scenarios. These scenarios could include, but not be limited to:
- Pandemic flu;
- A terrorist attack using a biological agent; and
- A natural disaster
09-331 Off Duty Decision-making (3 hour Elective)
Officer safety is not limited to the duty life of an officer. This interactive course examines police responses to off-duty encounters, to include the decision making process, and will provide tips for an officer's survival in these situations. It stresses the need for a plan of action, whether it is simply calling 911 or making a decision to take further action. Preparation is stressed throughout the course.
The course will encourage officers to have "family plan" of action when family members are present during an off duty encounter. Officers should train their families on what actions to take so that they can devote their time to neutralizing the threat and keeping everyone safe.
The course includes a section on protecting the officer and his/her family from retaliation.