GENERAL NOTICE 04-6

To:                     Chief Law Enforcement Officers
                          Training Officers
                          Protective Services
                          Resident Troopers

From:                  Thomas E. Flaherty
                          Executive Director

Date:                  September 20, 2004

Subject:              Change to Basic Training Curriculum

The Police Officer Standards and Training Council at their regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, September 9, 2004 adopted changes to the basic training curriculum.

For recruits attending the Connecticut Police Academy in Meriden, the curriculum will be extended by 80 hours effective with the 303rd Session which reports on Friday, October 15, 2004.

The first 40-hour block increase in the curriculum is designed to provide Counter-terrorism training to the recruits as follows:

a.     Weapons of Mass Destruction - 8 hours
b.     Personal Protection Equipment - 8 hours
c.     Suicide Bombers - 4 hours
d.     ITAC/ICALL Radio Communication - 2 hours
e.     NIMS (National Incident - 2 hours
        Management System)
f.      SLATT Training (State and Local - 8 hours
        Anti-terrorism Training
g.     Critical Incident Response - 8 hours

This 40-hour increase in the curriculum is applicable to all the Satellite Academies that begin after July 1, 2005.

The second 40-hour increase in the curriculum is specific to the Connecticut Police Academy in Meriden only and does not apply to the Satellite Academies.

This increase will permit our staff to divide each class up into three platoons for Firearms, Driver Training and additional practical skills. For example, Platoon “A” will attend Firearms, Platoon “B” will attend Driver training and Platoon “C” will attend enhanced Practical Skills training for the first week. The second week of the three-week period will require the three platoons to rotate and the third week, the same so that each platoon will cycle through the three-week schedule.

Each class is currently divided into two sections which make supervision and instruction unwieldy.

The curriculum is the subject of an ongoing review with an intent to further consider and adjust current topics that may be subject to either consolidation, abridgement or elimination.


TEF:ec