Officers Complete Reinhardt's Instructor Training Course

Patch Staff Report

Last month, 13 criminal justice and public safety professionals completed Reinhardt University Public Safety Institute’s inaugural Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council approved Instructor Training Course.

Class members were from the Cherokee Sheriff's Office, the Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton, Suwanee, Woodstock and Canton police departments and the Reinhardt University and Kennesaw State University departments of public safety.

“The 80-hour course is specialized training designed for public safety officers who instruct in performance oriented training and are responsible for lesson plan development,” said Lester W. Drawdy, III, interim dean of Reinhardt’s School of Professional Studies and director of Reinhardt’s Police Academy.  

Completion of the course is required for officers to be eligible for certification by the P.O.S.T. Council as a general instructor, Drawdy added.

Students received instruction on training topics including adult learning, instructor liability, effective presentation skills, teaching methods, practical exercise construction, communication skills, management of training aids and lesson plan design. The course instruction was delivered by seasoned law enforcement instructors from agencies located in Cherokee, Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties.

During the course, students wrote an original lesson plan on a public safety topic of their choosing and developed the presentation skills necessary to deliver the lesson.

Training modules developed by the students include: preparing for covert vehicle surveillance, basic building entry and room clearing techniques for patrol officers, introduction to K-9 patrol operations, identifying types of serial killers, effective role play in law enforcement training and false alarm reduction strategy. 

Veteran law enforcement trainers critiqued the lesson plans and evaluated the students on their delivery methods.

Reinhardt University's Public Safety Institute is a law enforcement training academy certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.

The Institute is an extension of the University’s School of Professional Studies and offers a combination of academic and professional development programs designed to serve the needs of public safety agencies. and it is housed at the University’s North Fulton Center in Alpharetta.