Pursuit Seminar for Law Enforcement Driver Trainers

Law enforcement officers continually face a number of potentially deadly situations throughout their careers. Conducting a vehicular pursuit exposes the public, the violator, and the officer to a great degree of danger. The deaths and injuries of officers resulting from vehicle collisions outnumber those that result from armed confrontations. In the past five years, more than 1,700 deaths have resulted from vehicular pursuits. Law enforcement officers must view vehicular pursuits for what they are, potentially life threatening situations. Despite these risks, the nature of law enforcement work often requires officers to engage in pursuits in order to effectively enforce the laws. Operating a law enforcement vehicle in a pursuit situation is a highly stressful and demanding experience. Pursuits involve unique responsibilities and critical decision-making requirements. During a pursuit, officers must rely on their maturity, patience, experience and training while being governed by state law and agency policy.

The NHTSA seeks to reduce the number of deaths and injuries resulting from vehicular pursuits that occur on our nation's highways each year. To this end, NHTSA is partnering with Association of Law Enforcement Emergency Response Trainers (ALERT) to promote and provide an appropriate pursuit training program among law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. This training program will provide guidance for the officer from the initiation of a vehicular pursuit through its conclusion. The Seminars will emphasize the safety of the public, the violator, and the officer as being paramount to the total pursuit situation.

The focus of this training is to address legal and operational vehicular pursuit training issues that include identifying factors to consider when initiating, conducting and terminating a vehicular pursuit. NHTSA's Traffic Law Enforcement Division supports a nationally recognized law enforcement driver training curriculum for law enforcement officers--the Law Enforcement Driver Training Reference Guide: 2000.

The result of this training will be law enforcement driver trainers with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop and implement a pursuit driver trainer program at their agencies, training academies, community colleges and universities. The resulting pursuit driver training programs will lead to an exchange of information, an increase in knowledge and the development of skills necessary for law enforcement officers to successfully conduct vehicular pursuits.

ALERT has demonstrated nationally recognized leadership in the area of law enforcement driver training and specifically in the area of vehicular pursuit training. ALERT is dedicated to the research and development of policies and training programs in the area of emergency vehicle response and pursuit operations. ALERT's mission is to provide assistance to states in establishing effective and defensible law enforcement driver training programs for law enforcement officers. Recently, ALERT has shown a commitment to NHTSA's programs by providing subject matter experts for the development of the Law Enforcement Drivers Training Reference Guide: 2000 and the delivery of seminars for law enforcement driver trainers in 1999. Because ALERT is a national organization consisting of members representing law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels, the organization has the commitment, administration and experience in place to perform the vehicular pursuit driver training issues involved in this effort successfully.

Following is the current seminar schedule:

Pursuit Seminar for Law Enforcement Driver Training

provided by

The Association of Professional Law Enforcement Emergency Vehicle Response Trainers (ALERT International)

SEMINAR HOTLINE

978-582-0915

Date Location
April 30 - May 2 Department of Criminal Justice Training
Richmond, KY
May 9 - 11 Maryland Police & Correctional Training Commission
Sykesville, MD
May 30 - June 1 Michigan State Police
Lansing, MI
June 5 - 7 Fargo Police Department
Fargo, ND
June 13 - 15 Denver Police Department
Denver, CO
July 11 - 13 New Jersey State Police
Sea Girt, NJ
August 15-17 New York State Police
Albany, NY
September 5 - 7 Overland Police Department
Overland, KS
September 18 - 20 Portland Police Department
Portland, OR
October 17 - 19 Massachusetts State Police & Criminal Justice Training Council
South Weymouth, MA
October 29 - 31 Georgia Public Safety Training Center
Forsyth, GA

Anyone interested in attending a seminar should contact ALERT at 978-582-0915. There is no registration or materials cost associated with the seminars.

For additional seminar information, visit the ALERT website at www.alertinternational.com