- Date published
Public Safety Training Center offers essential, convenient and expert-led training.
Finding quality training for law enforcement officers can be challenging in an environment with reduced funding and resources. But Missouri State University’s Public Safety Training Center has it covered.
With a convenient mid-Missouri location and affordable training courses, the Laclede County Sheriff’s Office has partnered with the PSTC since it opened and taken innumerable classes.
Sheriff David Millsap says they have never been disappointed.
“The team does a great job of providing experienced instructors from a variety of law enforcement fields. The training classes are well taught in a great learning atmosphere,” he said.
He lists classes on homicide investigations, executive leadership, constitutional law, first line supervisor training, use of force, internal affairs investigations and defensive tactics as value-added training courses his officers have completed at PSTC.
“The type of training we received from the center would blow our training budget if we attempted to get the training elsewhere.”
Sheriff Mike Nienhuis, from the City of Laurie, Missouri, echoes these sentiments, stating his officers have taken thousands of hours of training at the PSTC in the last seven years.
Nienhuis also applauds the commitment to adapting schedules, adopting new classes and integrating technology as needed.
Meeting a major need
Both agencies stress that the required continuing education requirements puts a strain on their limited staff – to keep the agency running effectively while others take training. However, they both point to the location as a huge advantage for mid-Missouri as it makes it less time-consuming to tackle that training.
“Law enforcement practitioners demand quality training from their agencies, and the center helps those in management meet those needs,” noted Millsap.
Nienhuis, who’s been in the profession for more than three decades, added this: “They strive to always have a challenging schedule to help personnel be able to attend as many classes as possible. I have never worked with another training center that has tried so hard to better the law enforcement community.”
Making training a priority
For Nienhuis, training isn’t just about meeting the POST and other education requirements. It’s about building leaders in the ranks and investing in his people.
“Law enforcement is a necessary evil. If you do things right, you’re the bad guy. If you do things wrong, you’re the bad guy,” he said.
“Keep training your people the right way and keep helping them strive to be better. It gives them the chance to become better police personnel.”
