At a centre just north of Brockville, police officers train alongside security personnel and members of the military.
They’re learning how to deal with everything from live shooter events to identifying emerging terrorist threats.
Everything from the latest in policing equipment to an interactive judgment simulator were on display during the one-day open house hosted by the Canadian Tactical Officers Association (CTOA) on Friday.
President Jim Bremner says the organization acts as a resource for active and retired law enforcement, security and military personnel.
Many of the group’s instructors have a history in special operations and national defence.
Mubin Shaikh was an undercover CSIS agent and an integral part of the intelligence agency’s infiltration of the Toronto 18 terror case in 2006.
Shaikh shared his experience with terrorism and radicalization with attendees at the open house.
“I’m going to frame the whole topic of radicalization using the Toronto 18 as a case study to map basically how individuals went from talk to action and what officers need to do to be aware of the threat,” he told participants.
Officers also receive tactical training, learning techniques that could be applied to situations similar to what the RCMP dealt with in Moncton when five officers were shot in 2014.
Reticle Ventures Canada president Steve Day says his firm helps provide some of the training that was identified in the MacNeil report following the incident in Moncton, where three RCMP officers were shot and killed, and two others injured, by a lone assailant.
“Those patrol officers need to have basic skills in case they come under fire,” Day said. “How do they get themselves ‘off of the X,’ and then be able to still deal with the appropriate use of force for the threat that they’re facing?”
Organizers of the CTOA open house say that kind of training could be the difference when it comes to saving lives of both civilians and officers.
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