The Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) was honored to host more than 140 emergency vehicle operations (EVO) instructors from around the nation at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem today. The group is in Oregon as part of the A.L.E.R.T. International Conference being held in Portland.
A.L.E.R.T. International is dedicated to the encouragement and correlation of research and development as well as the sharing of information, ideas and innovations in the area of emergency vehicle response operation. Additionally, A.L.E.R.T.’s mission is to provide assistance to states in establishing effective and defensible standards for employment and training of law enforcement officers in the field of emergency vehicle operations. Another aspect of the mission is the promotion of a positive, professional image of emergency response trainers.
DPSST Director Eriks Gabliks said "DPSST has been active in ALERT International for more than 25 years. We have gained lots of information from this organization that has been implemented within our training programs. Sadly we know each year a large percentage of law enforcement officers die in the line of duty responding to emergency incidents. Research done by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found that traffic-related incidents were the leading cause of death for officers in 15 of the past 20 years. We are committed to reducing the number of line of duty deaths by providing up to date training programs."
Presentations offered as part of the 2018 ALERT Conference included: Vehicle Based Problem Solving (Oregon State Police), Building an Emergency Vehicle Operations Program from Scratch (Maryland Police Training Commission), Vehicle ambush (Lake Oswego Police Department), Vehicle Box-In Techniques (Portland Police Bureau), Changing the Way We Instruct Driver Training (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center), Cognitive Driver Training - Updated Research by Dr. Jonathan Page (Cognitive Neuroscientist and Author) and many others.
For more information on ALERT http://www.alertinternational.com/
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The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) operates the Oregon Public Safety Academy which spans more than 235 acres in Salem. The Academy is nationally recognized for its innovative training programs and active stakeholder involvement. Eriks Gabliks serves as the Director, and Sheriff Jason Myers of the Marion County Sheriff's Office serves as the Chair of the Board. The department implements minimum standards established by the Board for the training and certification of more than 40,000 city, tribal, county and state law enforcement officers, corrections officers, parole and probation officers, fire service personnel, telecommunicators, emergency medical dispatchers and private security providers.
DPSST provides training to more than 25,000 students each year throughout Oregon and at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem: certifies qualified officers at various levels from basic through executive; certifies qualified instructors; and reviews and accredits training programs throughout the state based on standards established by the Board.