The Mansfield University Public Safety Training Institute (MUPSTI) recently hosted a two-day conference of the Pennsylvania Community Safety Alliance.
The goal of the July conference was to develop a training curriculum specifically for campus police and security officers with the understanding that those officers face a policing environment that is significantly different from that encountered by municipal police officers.
“I am honored that the Mansfield University Public Safety Training Institute is partnering with the Pennsylvania Community Safety Alliance, and I am further honored that Mansfield University hosted this conference which enabled positive discussion to occur from the many individuals and agencies involved” said Scott Henry, Director of MU Police Services and Safety. “The discussions provided input from many sources of critical importance and expertise, which then allowed for proper educational modules to be developed within the areas of empathy, diversity, community policing, and more.
“This important information can be disseminated and utilized by Law Enforcement within Higher Education.”
The attendees developed a five-day pilot training program based upon diversity, equity, compassion, and empathy. The training program includes modules addressing implicit bias, microaggressions, Title IX requirements, policing and the autism spectrum, de-escalation techniques, mental illness response, and community policing. The curriculum will also include traditional police topics such as special event management, active assailant response, and threat assessment.
The Mansfield University Public Safety Training Institute will assume responsibility for further development and implementation of the training program. The pilot class is expected to be offered at Mansfield University in January 2021.
“Goals established in the conference provided the foundation to disseminate these educational opportunities to Pennsylvania’s K-12 School Resource Police, and finally to our overall law enforcement agencies within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” said Henry.
More than twenty subject matter experts participated at the conference, in person and remotely, including representatives of the following organizations:
- Pennsylvania Community Safety Alliance
- Diversity Council of Rochester, Minnesota
- Mansfield University Diversity and Inclusion Council
- Tioga County Human Services
- The Camel Project, Reading, Pennsylvania
- The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
- Wellsboro Police Department
- National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers
- Tioga County Commissioners
- Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission
- Northern Tioga School District
- NSENA
- Three Springs Ministries
- Millersville University
- Emergency Response Training and Certification Association
- Pennsylvania Crime Prevention Officers Association
- Mansfield University Public Safety Training Institute
The MU Public Safety Training Institute (MUPSTI) is a regional training center providing initial and continuing professional education for criminal justice practitioners, first responders, public safety professionals, and the public. For more information, visit mansfield.edu/mupsti.