VirTra's Law Enforcement Dog Encounters Training Approved by Department of Justice
TEMPE, Ariz. — November 25, 2019 — VirTra, Inc. (NASDAQ: VTSI), a global provider of training simulators for the law enforcement, military, educational, and commercial markets, announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has approved and published the Law Enforcement Dog Encounters Training (LEDET) toolkit developed by VirTra and the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA).
The LEDET program is the first law enforcement dog training program the DOJ has approved since 2009. The toolkit compliments the full Law Enforcement Dog Encounter Training course created by VirTra, NSA and National Law Enforcement Center on Animal Abuse (NLECAA), which has set the standard for police-dog encounters across the United States. The LEDET training program is focused on police training for domestic dog encounters and includes a scenario kit that helps law enforcement officers safely interact with domestic dogs.
The full LEDET course is an eight-hour training program that uses VirTra’s interactive scenarios to both train and test students. The LEDET program pairs canine behavior science with advanced officer safety measures to help officers make quick, safe, and compassionate decisions when dealing with dogs under stressful circumstances. The program helps officers recognize cues that inform them quickly when a dog is truly aggressive. It focuses on de-escalation and less-than-lethal methods to keep the officer safe and prevent the needless shooting of a family pet.
NLECAA and the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office have been developing the written toolkit for three years, and VirTra’s in-house experts developed the scenario kit to be used on VirTra’s immersive training simulators. The 70+ page LEDET toolkit includes a Review of Literature, model policies, and a quick reference guide to dog behavior. The toolkit was co-authored by James Crosby M.S., Director of Canine Encounters Training for the National Law Enforcement Center on Animal Abuse (NLECAA) and Chelsea Rider, Director of NLECAA. Crosby, who is a retired Police Lieutenant, a Certified Behavior Consultant, and an internationally recognized expert on dog aggression and behavior, is also the author of the full LEDET Training Course.
“This is really new ground,” said Crosby. “The collaboration between VirTra and our team places dog encounter training right up there with state-of-the-art use-of-force training, as it should be. The ability to have officers experience dog body language – the whole spectrum of sights, movement and sounds – is a tremendous step forward. There is no similar training with the interactive aspect anywhere. With our team we were able to produce training by law enforcement, for law enforcement, based on years of direct personal experience on the street and backed by the academic foundation of the science behind dog actions and motivations.”
VirTra General Manager, Jason Mulcahy added: “VirTra continues to succeed by working alongside leading industry experts on developing curriculum for a growing number of real-world challenges. Not only do we believe this program will improve officer safety, but also reduce the chances of tragically shooting someone’s pet when it is unnecessary. To have this course certified by the DOJ is a significant feat for any company, and we are honored that VirTra now has this certification.”
The DOJ’s publication of this toolkit also recognizes the vast range of input and experience behind the LEDET course. Not only is the training set in real situations that law enforcement officers face every day, it also incorporates current advanced canine behavioral science, shelter handling and interaction skills, real life animal control, and practices grounded in the latest situational awareness training for Law Enforcement.
The LEDET scenarios debuted at NSA’s Annual Education and Technology in June 2018.The content package, which goes along with the newly published toolkit, includes five interactive scenarios and an additional training module that covers the fundamentals of dog behavior. All six of the certified training modules are available in VirTra’s content library for the V-300®, and four are available for the V-180® and V-100®. Law enforcement agencies will now be able to use the scenario kits in tandem with the written LEDET toolkit for maximum training value. For more information or to download the free guide, please visit here.
