Rule 24 – Skills Training Safety and Skills Program Requirements
for Basic and Reserve Academies
Revised December 5, 2008 - Effective March 1, 2009

(a)	All skills training for arrest control, law enforcement driving and firearms.

(I)	All hours of skills instruction must be documented by the block of instruction, date and hours of instruction to distinguish between lab and lecture, and instructor and student attendance roster. 

(II)	For all hours of all skills training programs, except as specified in (b)(VII), 100% attendance and participation are mandatory.

(III)	There must be at least one full skills instructor present at the site of instruction for each skills training session, excluding lecture-only sessions conducted in a classroom setting.

(IV)	Each academy may apply a higher standard for successful completion of any portion of any skills training program that is greater than seventy percent (70%) for arrest control and driving, eighty percent (80%)for firearms.  If such a higher standard is applied, the higher standard must be described in the respective skills lesson plan for arrest control, law enforcement driving or firearms, and in the Trainee Manual. 

(b)	Arrest control training.

(I)	There must be at least one arrest control instructor for every ten (10) trainees (i.e., 1:10 ratio) during any practicum or lab session.

(II)	No practicum or lab session may exceed eight (8) hours in any one-day. 

(III)	Mats or mat coverings must be serviceable and cleaned on a regular basis with an appropriate cleansing agent and/or disinfectant.

(IV)	Only those arrest control disciplines that have been reviewed and approved as recognized disciplines for arrest control training are acceptable instruction for the Arrest Control Training Program. 

(V)	Each academy shall ensure that all arrest control instructors maintain current certification for the academy’s arrest control discipline in accordance with the standards for recertification, if any, of the recognized discipline for arrest control training.

(VI)	All students must successfully complete a skills test out and written examination in accordance with the discipline being taught.  If the program does not have a student test out then each student at a minimum must successfully complete the arrest control skills test as used in the provisional/renewal of certification process.

(VII)  All students must attend 100% of the required sixty-two (62) hours of Arrest Control Training and no less than 95% of the hours of any course exceeding the established sixty-two hour requirement.

(VIII)	All academy Arrest Control Training programs must be comprised of at least 60% lab hours.

(c)	Law enforcement driving training.

(I)	There must be at least one driving track vehicle and one law enforcement driving instructor for every six (6) trainees (i.e., 1:6 ratio) during any instruction at the track.

(II)	Academy directors shall ensure that no trainee be permitted to participate in a law enforcement driving program unless the trainee possesses a valid driver’s license.

(III)	There must be at least one (1) fully charged five (5) pound size or larger, dry chemical, Class ABC fire extinguisher on site during any instruction at the track.

(IV)	Prior to receiving any nighttime Law Enforcement Driving Program instruction at the track, each trainee shall receive a minimum of twelve (12) hours of daylight driving instruction at the track.

(d)	Firearms training.

(I)	There must be at least one firearms instructor for every four (4) trainees enrolled in the program (i.e., 1:4 ratio) anytime a trainee is handling an operable firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, at any location, including in the classroom and at the range, except as noted in the following paragraphs (II) and (III) or in the Firearms Training Program.  This 1:4 instructor to student ratio shall not include the instructor running the range exercise.

(II)	No range exercise and/or lab session may exceed eight (8) hours in any one day.

(III)	For all dim light shooting that involves moving training and live fire, there must be at least one firearms instructor for each one trainee participating in the program (i.e., 1:1 ratio).  This 1:1 instructor to student ratio shall not include the instructor running the range exercise.

(IV)	For all tactical exercises and decisional scenarios that involve moving training and live fire, there must be at least one firearms instructor for each one trainee participating in the program (i.e., 1:1 ratio).  This 1:1 instructor to student ratio shall not include the instructor running the range exercise.

(V)	Only P.O.S.T. approved firearms instructors and not agency trained safety officers may be utilized to satisfy the minimum ratios of firearms instructors to trainees. 

(VI)	Prior to receiving any dim light firearms instruction at the range, each trainee shall receive a minimum of forty (40) hours of Firearms Training Program instruction, to include at least eight (8) hours of classroom lecture and thirty-two (32) hours of daylight live range instruction.

(VII)	Only high-visibility, fluorescent colored “dummy” ammunition may be used for any weapons handling other than actual live fire shooting.  
	
(VIII)	Trainees must be provided written and oral reminders over the course of the training of the four (4) firearms safety rules:

	(A)	All weapons must be treated as if they are always loaded; and
	
(B)	Never let the muzzle of a weapon point at anything you are not willing to destroy; and

(C)	Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until the sights are on the target and you are prepared to shoot; and

(D)	Always be certain of the target and beyond.

(IX)	All trainees must be familiar with the four (4) firearms safety rules prior to handling any operable firearm.

(X)	Each trainee must fire a minimum of one thousand (1,000) live rounds of handgun ammunition in a single weapons system, revolver or semi-automatic, before completing the program. 

(XI)	Effective July 1, 2007, for the official P.O.S.T. Handgun Tactical Qualification Course, only the approved P.O.S.T. target shall be used.  Target selection for the remainder of the Firearms Training Program shall be at the discretion of the individual academies.