Officer Matt Hoza looked for the perpetrator during a school shooting training scenario. Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland and City Manager Greg McDanel observed.

Officer Matt Hoza looked for the perpetrator during a school shooting training scenario. Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland and City Manager Greg McDanel observed.

Maryville Public Safety recently trained with a real-life simulation program.

The force and firearm video training program, Milo Range, is offered through Maryville’s insurance company, Missouri Intergovernmental Risk Management Association (MIRMA). Once a year, Loss Control Specialist Jeff Arp, hosts a training session for Maryville Public Safety.

The Milo Range projects life-sized interactive scenarios onto a giant screen. Arp is able to change any of the 800 scenarios, escalating or de-escalating the situation according to the officer’s response. The program records the officer’s voice and shots fired, then the scenario is played back and the officer’s performance is analyzed. Scenes range from traffic stops and domestic disturbance to school shootings.

Arp observes the officer’s use of policy and procedure, verbal skills, use of lethal and non lethal strategies, reasoning and how they respond under pressure. After each scene, he asks a series of questions requiring officers to justify their choices. Arp uses the compiled information to recommend areas for future training.

PoliceTraining2“To me it is important that we can put the bullets where they need to go, but the skills of whether to pull the trigger or not to pull the trigger are just as important as hitting the target,” Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood, said

MIRMA also offers a variety of online professional development courses for officers. These courses include handling blood born pathogens, police law, use of force and handling emotionally disturbed individuals.

“I am appreciative that MIRMA provides this training for our officers so we can stay up-to-date on the latest technology,” City Manager Greg McDanel, said.