Law enforcement training focuses on safety with minimum necessary force

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (WLOX) - When it comes to law enforcement tactics, you can never have enough training.

Friday was the culmination of a week-long session designed for one thing: to teach critical tactics to ensure officer survival using the lowest level of force.

It’s frightening enough in practice. It’s even more frightening in real time.

That’s why scenarios are run over and over.

“Repetition, repetition,” said trainee Jeremy Williams with the Mississippi Department of Corrections. “The more you train, the more your comfortable in training and the more we are less likely to make a mistake on the streets.”

The 40-hour training session in Bay St. Louis was put on by the Regional Counter Drug Training Academy. Agencies from Bay St. Louis Police Department, Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, MDOC and MDOT participated.

“Basically, when you go to the law enforcement academy, it kind of just touch the surface,” Williams said. “These guys more in depth and show more techniques and better ways to do things.”

The goal is to do the job with as little force necessary.

It takes a lot of work.

“It’s hard on your body, you’re sore, you’re tired. But you just want to keep going because you want to learn,” said Bay St. Louis officer Corey Stinson. “It’s probably the most intense I’ve been through.”

Bay St. Louis Police Chief Toby Schwartz says regular and consistent training is a good investment for the future.

“Part of recruiting people and retaining people is having a good training program, which we’ve been doing throughout the new year,” he said. “And that’s essential for any police department because every officer wants to be trained. You want the best equipped the best trained officers possible.”

The training with the RCTA was free of charge, and Schwartz says more training like this will be coming soon.

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