LOVELAND MAGAZINE

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Since 2004

Tag: Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy

  • Traffic Safety & Impaired Driving Training Grant Funds Now Available to Ohio Law Enforcement

    Traffic Safety & Impaired Driving Training Grant Funds Now Available to Ohio Law Enforcement

    The Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) has received a $280,000 federal grant to fund law enforcement training on identifying impaired drivers and investigating traffic collisions.

    Funds from the Traffic Safety and Impaired Driving Training Grant will be used to reimburse the cost of tuition for Ohio law enforcement officers who attend the following OPOTA courses:

    • Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) helps officers identify alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers.
    • Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) Instructor certifies participants to instruct courses on field-sobriety testing.
    • Advanced Traffic Collision Investigation (Level II) covers advanced techniques for investigating traffic collisions, including measuring, mapping and analyzing vehicle behavior. 
    • Radar and Lidar Operator teaches participants to operate radar and lidar devices (which measure speed) and includes field exercises, mock trial preparation and courtroom testimony practice. 
    • Radar and Lidar Instructor trains participants to provide instruction on the operation of radar and lidar devices, as well as trial and courtroom-testimony preparation.
    • Traffic Collision Investigation (Level I) covers techniques for investigating traffic collisions, including preparing field sketches and applying mathematical formulas to determine vehicle speed.
    • Vehicle Dynamics (Level III) provides techniques and formulas for investigating traffic collisions, including instruction on vehicle systems, vehicle motion, hydroplaning and rollovers, as well as determining energy, speed and velocity.

    The grant is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and made available through the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

    Law enforcement officers may register for these and other OPOTA courses on the Ohio Attorney General’s Office (AGO) website, with full course descriptions and tuition information available here. OPOTA, which is part of the AGO, provides instruction on a variety of subjects for the Ohio law enforcement community using the latest research and industry best practices.

  • School safety training grants available for schools in Ohio

    School safety training grants available for schools in Ohio

    Schools will have the flexibility to use these grants for things like training for school resource officers, safety and security materials, and programs to identify and help students who may be struggling with their mental health.

    Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has announced that he is awarding $12 million in grants to help enhance safety and security at schools across the state.

    All of Ohio’s public schools, chartered nonpublic schools, and schools operated by county boards of developmental disabilities will receive the greater of $2,500 or $5.65 per student to spend toward school safety programs and training.

    “Schools will have the flexibility to use these grants for things like training for school resource officers, safety and security materials, and programs to identify and help students who may be struggling with their mental health,” said DeWine

    The grants are funded with appropriations made by the Ohio legislature as part of House Bill 318. The bill, which was sponsored by state representatives Sarah LaTourette (R-Chesterland) and John Patterson (D-Jefferson), appointed the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to develop the school safety training grant program in consultation with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

    The law requires that participating schools and county boards work with law enforcement in their jurisdictions to determine the best use of the grant funding.

    A full list of grant awards can be found on the Ohio Attorney General’s website.

    Other Resourses

    • Active Shooter Response: An Educator’s Guide: This 25-part video series was produced by the Attorney General’s Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) to aid educators in preparing for and reacting to a potentially violent school incident, such as a school shooting. The brief videos are an update to the training offered by OPOTA beginning in 2013 that provided guidance to nearly 15,000 educators on how to intervene with students who could pose a danger and how to respond in a crisis situation.
    • Emergency Management Plan Aerial Photographs: Special agents with the Attorney General’s Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) are available to take free aerial photographs of school buildings for inclusion in school emergency management plans. BCI currently has six drones that are used primarily to document crime scenes and assist in missing persons cases, but BCI is offering to use its drones to take aerial photos of school campuses to help law enforcement plan for and respond to an emergency. School administrators, in coordination with local law enforcement, can request photographs by calling 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).

    Attorney General DeWine also worked with schools across the state to achieve greater compliance on school safety plans and convened a School Safety Task Force that issued dozens of school safety recommendations. The task force recognized that mental health awareness was essential for schools to identify and intervene with students who may be at risk.