training outside of the 40 hour class

[james2go30]

ok florida s/o's....anyone near panama city know where I can get extra training. My company only gives the 40 hour class and I want some additional training and would like to know how to go about getting this training.

[HotelSecurity]

http://www.ei-ahla.org/certification_clso.asp

http://www.ei-ahla.org/certification_clss.asp

http://www.ei-ahla.org/certification_clsd.asp

Here are courses dealing with hotel security.

[SecTrainer]

ok florida s/o's....anyone near panama city know where I can get extra training. My company only gives the 40 hour class and I want some additional training and would like to know how to go about getting this training.

You might be interested in some of the courses offered by the S2 Safety & Intelligence Institute (see links below), such as the Anti-Terrorism Officer or ATO certificate course. They're located in Clearwater, FL but some of their courses like the ATO cert are also available via the Web. One thing - to take courses designated levels II or III, such as the ATO program, you must be able to prove your status in the industry and they WILL check you out before they allow you to enroll in those courses. Level I courses can be taken by anyone.

Another course that might interest you is Advanced Patrol & Officer Survival, among others. Surprisingly (to me), this is a level I course.

The web-based courses consist of streaming web lecture and powerpoint presentations. You first download the powerpoint slides, which you can print out. Then you click on the link to the lecture, which will also incorporate the powerpoint slides on the right side of the screen. The lecturer appears on the left side of the screen. For the ATO program, the lecturer is Craig Gundry, a well-recognized expert who peppers his lectures with lots of real-world examples; he is obviously quite knowledgeable. The course offers a lot of very practical information - such as proper procedures for handling suspicious mail coming to the company, proper procedures for approaching individuals suspected of conducting pre-attack surveillance, etc.

The ATO program states that it's 18 hours, but you'll do well to complete it in that time. Budget for more like 24-25 hours - Gundry moves right along in his lectures so you'll need to pause them from time to time if you're taking notes. You have a month to complete the course and must pass an exam that I would say is of fair-to-moderate difficulty. (You can't sleep through the lectures )

S2 also has a number of classroom-based courses, if you're anywhere near Clearwater, including the Florida "D" and "G" courses.

Here's the link to S2 Institute

As a side note, S2 is the training arm of Critical Intervention Services, a Clearwater-based security company that appears to enjoy a very good reputation, specializing in high-risk residential communities, executive protection, critical infrastructure/nuclear security, etc.. The CEO of CIS is K.C. Poulin, whose name will be familiar to many. He's written a couple of very thought-provoking books on high-risk community security operations.

Here's the link to CIS in case you're interested.

Good luck!

[N. A. Corbier]

I prefer Jay Pace's lectures more, but only because I've had to sit through endless hours of them.

SecTrainer has a point about S2's web courses. The ATO course, and some others as well, are web-based, and you will receive your certificate through S2. Some clients or contractors will care, some won't, and some will think you're a wanna-be cop. If you work for the first or second class, then the third doesn't matter.

Basically, I would suggest the following courses for preparation for street patrol. You can take all of these at S2, or somewhere else.

1. Expandable Baton (Monadnock or ASP Manufacturer Certification, User Level)
2. OC Pepper Spray (Doesn't matter which, just carry that brand, User Level)
3. Street Encounters & The Winning Mind (or) Street Survival
3. Handcuffing and Arrest/Detention under Florida Law
4. Handgun Retention (This is good for your other weapons, too)
5. Defensive Edged Weapons
6. Advanced Patrol and Officer Survival

There are others, of course. If you like, there's the CPO program through IFPO, as well. (There are links to IFPO on S2 and CIS's websites, the CEO of CIS is a board member, and requires CPO of all supervisors.)

[GCMC Security]

I prefer Jay Pace's lectures more, but only because I've had to sit through endless hours of them.

SecTrainer has a point about S2's web courses. The ATO course, and some others as well, are web-based, and you will receive your certificate through S2. Some clients or contractors will care, some won't, and some will think you're a wanna-be cop. If you work for the first or second class, then the third doesn't matter.

Basically, I would suggest the following courses for preparation for street patrol. You can take all of these at S2, or somewhere else.

1. Expandable Baton (Monadnock or ASP Manufacturer Certification, User Level)
2. OC Pepper Spray (Doesn't matter which, just carry that brand, User Level)
3. Street Encounters & The Winning Mind (or) Street Survival
3. Handcuffing and Arrest/Detention under Florida Law
4. Handgun Retention (This is good for your other weapons, too)
5. Defensive Edged Weapons
6. Advanced Patrol and Officer Survival

There are others, of course. If you like, there's the CPO program through IFPO, as well. (There are links to IFPO on S2 and CIS's websites, the CEO of CIS is a board member, and requires CPO of all supervisors.)

I like the S2 classes and took a couple while I was down in Tampa. All of those are great classes for you to take James, I don't know ANY place in the Panama City that offers those classes (if you find one let me know and I'll let you know if I find any in this area of the Panhandle)

[SecTrainer]

I should also have mentioned a few other things:

1. Some security people have found that the training they received by participating in the CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program that many fire departments/emergency management agencies around the country provide (free) was useful. If I remember correctly, CERT training involves 7 or 8 four-hour sessions on a variety of disaster response subjects and skills, usually delivered one night per week. Building size-up, disaster medical triage, handling small fires, etc...

2. Depending on your ultimate ambitions, most community colleges have a criminal justice program these days, and even if you don't want to pursue a degree some of the individual courses would be useful.

3. Again, depending on your goals, there are colleges and universities that offer security management programs, some of which are delivered over the Web, such as American Military University...and AMU also offers a shorter certificate program in security management that requires only six courses. (Be sure that any university you attend is regionally and nationally accredited so courses will transfer to other schools, etc.)

4. If you're aiming for management, not everything has to be about "security" - you'll want some business training as well. The American Management Association offers a variety of certificate programs in numerous areas of business (general management, finance/accounting, human resources, etc.). These can be done at a distance, and are the same programs that are co-sponsored by many colleges and universities. I believe most AMA certificates require 8 to 10 courses, which are in the range of $140 each. This makes an AMA certificate less expensive than many certificate programs offered at universities (for instance, the certificate in contract management offered by Villanova University runs around $6000).

5. You might want to consider related aspects of security such as going into investigations (or simply adding investigative credentials to your diddy-bag). Some subjects that come under "investigation skills" like interviewing/interrogation are relevant to the security officer, especially if he's expected to do the preliminary legwork following a crime, etc.

The investigation courses offered by this training company are good enough to be granted credit for licensing in a number of states including Texas, which is a pretty good indicator of quality as Texas is pretty demanding on such matters as investigator licensing. It's not the typical "you too can be a PI" training you find with some of the so-called "detective schools" on the Internet. The courses on evidence and court testimony, background investigation and such might be of particular interest to you.

A typical course or "module" on an individual subject (i.e., Background Investigation) costs $40. However, you'll also note that there's a complete training package in that list that's the equivalent of an 80-hour course. This costs $400 and includes 20+ modules, which is less than $20 per module. This is very reasonable. On the other hand, if you only want to take a few courses, you pay-as-you-go and that would be cheaper than taking a package.

This outfit also offers practice tests for a couple of the ASIS certifications for $100 with the guarantee of a refund if you fail the exam.

6. Safety is another area related to security. There are many sources of safety/OSHA-related and FEMA/DHS-sponsored emergency management training, which also has relevance to security. I won't try to cover those here except to say that some people find these boring due to their delivery format (read a downloaded book, pass a 25-question test, get your certificate). No interaction, no simulation, no streaming audio/video, etc. There are exercises, but no one forces you to actually do them or checks to see that you do. (Some are such that you can't do them on your own anyway.) Also, the FEMA material is more geared to someone who is working in a public emergency management agency. All of this can disguise the fact that the material itself is actually quite good and very useful if you take the extra trouble to do what exercises you can do and actually force yourself to absorb the concepts instead of just "skating" through and taking the test.

The folks at the National Association of Safety Professionals offer a number of safety-related courses, some of which are based on FEMA course material, and some of which are more OSHA-oriented. The format is similar - download or receive in the mail a CD with course materials, read and take a test. One NASP cert that might interest you in particular is the one on Workplace Violence Prevention.

Good luck!

[N. A. Corbier]

I like the S2 classes and took a couple while I was down in Tampa. All of those are great classes for you to take James, I don't know ANY place in the Panama City that offers those classes (if you find one let me know and I'll let you know if I find any in this area of the Panhandle)

Where do you guys get your D and G? Those companies should be offering the courses, as well, unless they're D factories.

[GCMC Security]

FOR TWC We have a couple DI's on staff. As for the Panama City I know of one guy that does the D and G class, and I believe they are the only courses he teaches. I know the Comm College there also offers the D and G but don't know if they give anything above state requirements. Here in Pensacola we outsourse to a K instructor, and he does NOT teach anything outside of the class not even anything on retention which in my .02 is bad juju. Especially seeing as TWC is intent on issuing firearms with the cheapest high gloss holster they can find.

I'm always looking for more training and as I find things in the area I will pass it on.

[N. A. Corbier]

That's what I figured, all the companies are doing it in-house.

The G course does not require weapons retention at all, its why nobody teaches it. That's an extra course that some could make money at.