OPOTA’s annual law enforcement conference has been revised, renamed and relocated.
Now known as the Law Enforcement Training Symposium (LETS), the conference will be held Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky. A job fair will be held Sept. 29.
The annual conference was overhauled to be more purpose-driven and to deliver immediate, concrete benefits for the peace officers who attend. OPOTA Executive Director Tom Quinlan said some offerings have never been offered before.
· For the first time, the conference will present the eight hours of continuing professional training (CPT) courses mandated by OPOTC: Legal Updates (2 hours); Responding to Mental Health Issues (2); Crisis Mitigation De-Escalation (2); Marsy’s Law/Victim Rights (1); and NIBIN (1).
· For the first time, officers will have the opportunity to be certified as instructors of Virtual Reality Immersion, the next big thing in law enforcement training.
· For the first time, officers will have the opportunity to earn a firearms requalification program certificate. A person completing this course will be authorized to conduct annual mandated requalifications for veteran officers, a step on the way to becoming a fully certified firearms instructor. (To be clear, officers in this course will NOT be certified as firearms instructors.) Typically, a requalification course for pistol, shotgun and rifle would require 12 days of training and cost $2,500; the symposium course is four hours and costs nothing beyond the conference registration fee.
In addition, the symposium will offer:
· A plain-clothes operative course, for officers who need to work directed patrols out of uniform.
· A course by BCI on what to expect after an officer-involved critical incident.
· A course on crowd control and dialogue teams.
And for the first time in at least eight years, the symposium will convene a meeting specifically for school commanders.
The new site of the conference, at Kalahari in Sandusky, offers the opportunity for a fall family getaway. The event will include a vendor showcase and, on the Sunday before the symposium officially opens, a job and career fair, which will give officers and prospective recruits an opportunity to meet with agency and academy representatives from across the state.
Registration is expected to open in mid-July. Details will be posted at https//:www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/LETS as soon as the information is available.