County Officers Undergo F.A.T.S® Training
Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department deputies, jailers and reserve deputies received a “virtual reality” of scenarios last week as they completed mandatory F.A.T.S® training. The F.A.T.S® system (acronyms for Firearms Training Systems) was assembled and located in the basement of the Kosciusko County Justice Building.
Officers were required to attend one of the many two-hour training sessions that were available all week by KCSD firearms instructors Larry Holderman and James Marshall. Lt. Holderman explained that Meggitt Training Systems owns the rights to the F.A.T.S® system, which has been providing law enforcement visual training for several decades throughout the United States.
Holderman stated that many officers are first initiated to the F.A.T.S® system during their mandatory basic training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield, Ind.
“KCSD has been fortunate enough to have remedial F.A.T.S® training nearly every 2 to 3 years with the repeated commitment of Kosciusko County Sheriffs Al Rovenstine, Aaron Rovenstine and Rocky Goshert,” commented Holderman. “F.A.T.S® continues to update and provide additional scenarios that adjust to today’s varying incidents that officers respond to.”
KCSD Deputy Sheriff James Marshall explained that the F.A.T.S® system allows for over 220 different scenarios for implementation. Scenarios range from domestic disputes, traffic stops, hostage situations, S.W.A.T./tactical involvement, suicides, court and jail security, Taser™ deployments, domestic terrorism, vehicle and foot pursuits, as well as business and school active shooter incidents.
Meggitt Training Systems provide exact replicas of current KCSD firearms and Taser™ devices for more effective realism during the simulations. Marshall stated the scenarios can be changed and tailored by the instructor as they observe the officers verbal and physical responses during the live training. “It provides for real-time, adrenaline-dumping, simulations that force an officer to use all his training, observations and common sense to respond to each visual scene,” Marshall said. “I believe that the rental cost is minimal compared to the invaluable training that is acquired by our department officers.”