Americus, GA - Governor Brian P. Kemp and Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Executive Director Jay Neal announced the award of 63 grants in the amount of $6,756,389 for the Law Enforcement Training Grant Program. South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) is one of the 63 awardees receiving a total of $52,953 in grant funding.
“On behalf of South Georgia Technical College and the other agencies who will benefit from this grant opportunity, I would like to thank Governor Kemp and Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Executive Director Jay Neal for this opportunity,” said SGTC President Dr. John Watford. South Georgia Technical College requested funds for a Laser Shot SimRange simulator for its Law Enforcement Academy.
During the 2020 legislative session, Gov. Kemp recommended and lawmakers approved the creation of a law enforcement training grant program through the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for state and local law enforcement agencies. “We are committed to giving law enforcement officers across the state specialized training and resources needed to provide the best possible public safety to Georgia’s citizens,” explained Gov. Kemp. “This grant will help pay for essential training – including in use of force and de-escalation – for state and local law enforcement officers and give them the tools they need to keep our communities safe.”
South Georgia Technical College Vice President of Institutional Advancement Su Ann Bird applied for the grant on behalf of the SGTC Law Enforcement Academy, a POST-certified training facility located in Americus. The SGTC Law Enforcement Academy is one of six technical colleges in Georgia that are allowed to provide new law enforcement officers with their basic law enforcement training and POST certification while also allowing the cadets to obtain college credit for their classes.
The South Georgia Technical College Law Enforcement Academy will utilize the grant funds to purchase a Laser Shot SimRange Law Enforcement Training Simulator to assist in the administration of law enforcement training in the use-of-force and de-escalation. The training simulator can be utilized during, before, or after class. It can help LEA students struggling with actual firearms training and also assist with judgmental training.
South Georgia Technical College will also provide access to the simulator to local agencies in the SGTC service area that currently do not have access to one within a reasonable distance. The simulator will be housed in the Law Enforcement Academy area and give local agencies in the area access to it and provide an instructor when needed to those small agencies that do not currently have an instructor on staff.
The following agencies provided letters of support for the South Georgia Technical College Law Enforcement Academy Training grant proposal: City of Americus Police Department, Sumter County Sheriff’s Department, Crisp County Sheriff’s Department, Montezuma Police Department, Webster County Sheriff’s Department, City of Perry Police Department, and the Georgia Southwestern State University Office of Public Safety.
“Having a simulator available locally will enable the college and each of these agencies to regularly provide training to their officers at no expense,” said South Georgia Technical College Law Enforcement Academy Director Brett Murray. “Laser Shot’s SimRange is a portable training system that provides practical training in a virtual environment. These simulators provide immediate feedback opportunities for both the cadet, officer, and instructor. It provides progressive and repetitious crawl/walk/run training without posing environmental or safety restrictions. This simulator is a great resource providing different judgmental training scenarios, some stress-inducing and others more skill building. The instructor can modify the scenario based on the action/lack of action by the student to more fully engage the student and reinforce the need to consider options and reach an appropriate resolution.”
South Georgia Technical College also plans to provide members of the community with the opportunity to utilize the simulation to inform and demonstrate how valuable training in different scenarios is for law enforcement officers. Public officials and community members can participate in trainings safely while also demonstrating many of the situations that law enforcement officers find themselves facing daily.