Weiser, ID-Recently the Weiser Police Department collaborated with the Middleton Police Department to run a three day ALERRT training. Advance Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) is a research based active shooter response training program that was created in 2002 as a partnership between Texas State University, the San Marcos, Texas Police Department and the Hays County, Texas Sheriff’s Office to address the need for active shooter response training for first responders. Local law enforcement agencies such as Weiser, Payette, Fruitland and Middleton have adopted this program and are training their officers in its procedures. This training can be used in multiple settings such as supermarkets and schools.
Weiser Patrol Officer and ALERRT Instructor, Trei Walker, shared that the goal for the Weiser Police Department is to have officers attend two training sessions a year, one in collaboration with Middleton Police Department who hosted this year’s training and one with local agencies such as Weiser, Payette, Fruitland and Adams County. Walker shared, “If there were ever to be an incident, especially in the small departments from Fruitland to Adams County, everyone would be going. So if there’s a shooting in Fruitland, all the Weiser guys would go. If there was an incident over here I would imagine all the Payette County and Adams County departments would come to Weiser.” The idea behind the local training would be to have all agencies knowing and using the same program to respond to an incident and to have local agencies learn the layouts of possible settings if an incident were to occur. The recent ALERRT collaboration with Middleton Police Department was the first training that was put together by Officer Nick Randall who is the Instructor for Middleton and a former police officer of Weiser. He and Walker went through the Instructor course together.
Walker shared that the state of Idaho has adopted the ALERRT program into the police officers standards of training, so the police academy that Idaho has is already teaching all new police officers throughout the whole state the ALERRT program. The yearly trainings the department hopes to continue is to keep the process and procedures fresh in the minds of the officers and build working relationships with local agencies. “Where this is a sad reality that no one wants to talk about, I would rather have the Weiser Police Department be prepared for a situation than act like it is not happening around the country. I’d love us to be prepared rather than unprepared,” stated Walker.
*Curtesy Photos form Officer Nick Randall
