With increasing frequency, law enforcement is being called upon to respond to individuals in serious mental health crises. It is necessary for law enforcement personnel to understand mental illness, and the tactics and techniques that have been proven to work most effectively when responding to individuals in these situations. These tactics and techniques are different than those routinely taught to officers to manage conflict. Generally, the underlying elements behind mental illness-related behavior is usually not criminal or malicious. Utilizing the information from this course, and implementing effective strategies can help keep the officer safe, keep the public safe, and greatly reduce civil liability. 

This Basic Instructor Certification course is designed to provide the basic concepts of instruction and to increase the quality of professional law enforcement training. This course introduces the student to the teaching-learning process, phases of the teaching-learning process, factors affecting learning, needs assessment, task analysis, developing learning objectives, preparing a lesson plan, and methods of instruction. The students will be taught how to develop and use instructional media to enhance their presentations. In addition, the fundamental techniques of developing testing and evaluation procedures will be presented. Each trainee must demonstrate the basic knowledge and skills required to effectively instruct a lesson during two teaching exercises which will be evaluated by two instructors.

This course is designed to meet the legislative mandate in HB 786 passed by the 87th Texas Legislature that amends Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1701. Cardiac Emergency Communication is designed to teach all telecommunicators how to identify when cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is needed and how to talk a caller through the process. In order to do this, a telecommunicator must first be certified in CPR training. This course does not certify a telecommunicator in CPR. Cardiac Emergency Communication meets the legislative mandate and continuing education requirements to ensure all telecommunicators are trained in responding to a caller in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA).

This class is designed to certify an individual to be a statewide resource as a mental health officer (MHO), per Texas Occupations Code 1701.404, and the TCOLE Rule §221.11. An MHO assists responding law enforcement officers determine, if and what, actions can be taken regarding the individual(s)’s 4th Amendment rights, due to the individual(s)’s incapacitation caused by their mental health crisis. This course certifies an individual on how to identify applicable situations for intervention, appropriate local resources for the demographics of the jurisdiction, and best practices on building resource/community connections.

This course teaches instructors how to provide supervised field training for new recruits in any law enforcement discipline.  The goal is to transition the recruit from a classroom setting to an actual hands-on assignment. The course includes training in instructional techniques, coaching and evaluation, remedial training and record keeping. The course is designed to provide training guidance and training aspects to future Field Training Officers in the area of law enforcement, including peace officers, jailers, telecommunication operators, correction officers, public service officers, etc. This course also introduces and teaches the student the History and Purpose of Field Training, Training Methodologies and Techniques, Counseling, the Evaluation Process, and the importance of Documentation.  Each student must demonstrate (evaluated at the end of the course) the basic knowledge required to effectively apply all applications of the training.

This course is designed to satisfy state requirements set by Commission Rules 221.1 and 221.3 for licensed Telecommunicators to acquire an Intermediate Telecommunications Proficiency Certificate. This course is intended to advance a licensed Telecommunicator’s knowledge and skills to become more proficient in this role. This guide covers crisis intervention and communication skills, suicide intervention, domestic violence intervention, and handling various types of emergency calls.