(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today announced the addition of a training house to the immersive law enforcement training village located at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy’s campus in London, Ohio.
The old warden’s residence at the London Correctional Institution will become part of the training village and will be incorporated into multiple OPOTA advanced training courses, including courses related to crime scene investigation and evidence collection.
Attorney General DeWine made the announcement during this year’s Law Enforcement Conference in Columbus, where hundreds of Ohio law enforcement professionals convened to learn new skills and share information.
“As part of our efforts to provide the best training possible for Ohio’s law enforcement community, I’m pleased to announce this new addition to our law enforcement training village,” Attorney General DeWine said. “Immersed in realistic environments and guided by skilled instructors, officers who train here will be better prepared for what they may encounter while on duty so that they can better protect themselves and the community.”
Attorney General DeWine first introduced the law enforcement training village in 2017, and it is currently used in a number of OPOTA advanced training courses. The village includes several neighboring structures, and with simulators and live role players, the training replicates situations officers may encounter while on duty to help them sharpen their skills in stress-inducing, realistic environments.
In the next stage of development, the old warden’s residence will be converted for use in the training village. OPOTA will hold crime-scene evidence collection courses at the house to help officers train in realistic settings to investigate crime scenes and gather evidence. The garage and second-story apartment of the residence also will be modified for building-entry training, simunitions courses (which utilize non-lethal training ammunition), and training on maneuvering in enclosed stairways that are common in many buildings.
The training village was created in response to the recommendations of an advisory group convened by Attorney General DeWine in 2014 to examine the training of Ohio law enforcement officers and to look for opportunities for improvement. The group recommended the addition of scenario-based training to help officers respond appropriately to situations they might face.
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