PTI Advisory Board Meeting
September 24, 2009
Jim Gould Restaurant, Champaign
Attending:
Sheriff John Thompson, Bureau County Sheriff's Office
Sheriff David Osmer, Cass County Sheriff's Office
Sheriff John Monnet, Effingham County Sheriff's Office
Deputy Chief Jeff Christensen, University of Illinois Police Department (in place of Chief O’Connor)
Chief David Baer, Bradley University Police Department
Chief R.T. Finney, Champaign Police Department
Chief Nick Graff, Morton Police Department
Chief Pat Carey, Libertyville Police Department
Sheriff Gilbert Cady, President, Illinois Sheriff's Association
Chief Eric Smith, President Illinois Chief’s Association
Commissioner Janelle Crowley, Illinois Fire and Police Commissioners Assoc.
Director Mike Norrington, MTU 15
Director Bill Strayer, Sangamon County Basic Correctional Academy
Director Kris Fitzpatrick
Police Training Specialist Tom Gibbons
Associate Director Cora Beem
Police Training Specialist Mike Metzler
Associate Director Mike Miller
Police Training Specialist Ken Zimny
Associate Director Catherine Somers
Police Training Specialist Doug Needham
Registrar Chaley Hausle
Basic Course Supervisor Chuck Deakin
Basic Course Secretary Melissa Zindars
Assistant to the Director Leana Coffey
Absent: Sheriff Michael McCoy, Peoria County Sheriff’s Office
Director Beth Pinter, MTU 5
Chief Jody O’Guinn, Carbondale Police Department
Minutes: Leana Coffey
Welcome and Introduction - Director Fitzpatrick opened the meeting with introductions
of advisory board members and PTI staff.
Topics of Discussion as Suggested by Board Members:

Use of Force – Chief Christensen inquired about the Use of Force Continuum and if
the curriculum should be updated. Associate Director Miller explained that we are
required to teach the SPOs in the ILETSB curriculum, which includes the five levels
of resistance. We also teach that officers do not need to go up each step in the
continuum. Chief Christensen noted that many agencies are moving away from the
“Use of Force Continuum” and towards the “Standard of Reasonableness” – verbal
compliance, non-lethal, and deadly force. Members stated the IACP and FBI
Academy are among those who are moving towards the Standard of Reasonableness
and agencies need to look at what motivates us to change, not just liability. Chief
Graff noted that based upon officer involved issues, many officers are under-reacting
and could use more force than they do. When asked by AD Miller if recruit officers
returning from PTI were under-reacting, members did not notice any issues. Tom
Gibbons noted the training recruits receive at PTI is based on reasonableness. Doug
Needham encouraged agencies to look at their policies and procedures to see what
they contain. Janelle Crowley, certified assessor for CALEA, said CALEA identifies
policies agencies must have but does not write/require specific language.
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
Cultural Diversity – Cora Beem addressed the question of what training is being
provided to recruits on the topic of Cultural Diversity. Cultural Diversity is not a
separate block in the TB curriculum - it is included in the Police-Citizen Relations
block. That block is also one of the six component areas PTI revamped when we
implemented the Enhanced Law Enforcement Response to Victims curriculum.
Currently, PTI addresses cultural diversity (age, race, gender, religion, orientation,
disability) and cultural competency in multiple blocks thorough the BLE. We begin
with the Problem-Oriented Policing block in Week 1 and end with the Preparation for
Patrol block in Week 12. Cultural issues are addressed not only in instructional
blocks but in scenario training as well.

Mandatory Firearms Training – The question was asked how and when the
mandatory firearms training in BLE will be updated. Mike Metzler explained that we
are required to teach the 40-hour firearms training as mandated by ILETSB. We
provide 50 hours of training which covers all required SPOs as well as cover &
utilization training and a one hour orientation of the patrol rifle. Advisory board
members agreed that the mandatory firearms training curriculum and exam needed to
be updated. Director Fitzpatrick stated that PTI would be willing to assist. A specific
change that needs to be looked at is replacing shotgun with patrol rifle. Although the
shotgun is still a good weapon, many agencies are moving toward the patrol rifle.
Mike Norrington from MTU 15 noted that with 163 agencies in his MTU, over 100 of
them have rifles in their cars. When asked if they would be disappointed if shotgun
training was removed from BLE, the general consensus was that both shotgun and
patrol rifle training needed to remain in the curriculum. Chief Smith noted many
rural agencies still use shotguns.

Recruit Housing - Due to housing contracts PTI entered into over a year ago when
enrollments were much higher, we are faced with a substantial deficit. We currently
have contracted 122 beds and are only using 48 of those with the remainder of them
being empty. ILETSB has agreed to assist with housing costs for one year. It was
noted that the ISP Academy receives funds directly from the Traffic and Criminal
Conviction Surcharge Fund which covers housing costs for BLE recruits. A possible
solution would be for ILETSB to consider a similar model for PTI. Agencies would
then pay the same tuition at PTI as they do at the ISP academy. Other alternatives to
assist with housing costs were discussed:
o Director Fitzpatrick asked board members how they felt about PTI being a
commuter academy instead of residential. Agencies would be responsible for
housing recruits in hotels. The general consensus was that if agencies had to
pay a course fee and housing fee separately, the cost would be much greater
than they pay now as well as higher than other academies. Agencies would be
forced to go to other academies to save money. Although it could be
reimbursable from ILETSB, agencies look at the initial cost since that comes
out of their budgets, but the reimbursement goes into a general fund and not
back to the agencies themselves.
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o Another option PTI is researching is to house recruits at apartments 2 ½ miles
off campus. This may create overtime issues with extra travel time, etc.
Busing officers to training locations was suggested to give more control and
timeliness and will be researched by PTI.
o Director Fitzpatrick noted that in the past (1960’s), PTI conducted BLEs in
remote locations across the state. The cost of housing recruits in hotels was
an issue and BLE courses were only four weeks long. The practice of putting
on academies at remote sites was discontinued after the minimum training
hours were increased.
The high cost of recruit housing is something PTI needs a solution for long-term and
will continue to be evaluated.

H1N1 Vaccinations Prior to Attending PTI – Cora Beem reviewed PTI’s policy of
handling contagious diseases contracted by recruit officers. We encourage recruit
officers to receive flu and H1N1 shots prior to attending PTI and to bring basic
cold/flu medication with them. Basic preventative techniques are discussed at
orientation. If a recruit officer has symptoms of a contagious disease with a fever,
he/she will be isolated in a vacant apartment until the fever has subsided for at least
24 hours. We will arrange for meals and also videotape classroom instruction for
them to watch so they will not miss those class hours. They cannot participate in
scenario, physical skills, or firearms while possibly contagious. Recruit officers are
unable to miss more than 48 hours of instruction.

Verbal Judo – PTI uses the copy-righted “Verbal Judo” training to satisfy the
“Communication in the Police Environment” section of the curriculum. The cost of
books, certification and recertification of instructors can be quite costly. Instructors
are currently certified for the next two years, so the cost has stabilized for now since
all the books have already been purchased. We may need to look at other options
including possibly using university resources to assist in creating our own outline
(using SPOs) in the future and move away from the “Verbal Judo” instruction.

Enhanced Law Enforcement Response to Victims – Over two years ago, PTI was
approached by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and asked to
participate in a pilot program, Enhanced Law Enforcement Response to Victims.
Mundelein Police Department is the pilot agency which implemented this program
and recommended PTI to be the first academy in the nation to teach it at the recruit
level. We found many of the techniques were consistent with what we were already
teaching and with a few adjustments in our training, were able to seamlessly
implement the program without adding any extra hours. Cora Beem and Tom
Gibbons will be attending the IACP conference in Denver, CO in October to assist
with presenting this to attendees.

Control Tactics Program – Mike Miller reviewed changes to the Control Tactics
training in BLE. To reduce costs and reduce injuries, we modified the combat day in
red-man suits and reduced the number of instructors used. Training is now held using
recruit-on-recruit with the level of resistance closely monitored. Recruits are
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basically worked to exhaustion so they can see that they can still function and make
decisions through their exhaustion.

Patrol Rifle Training – PTI has added an optional Basic Patrol Rifle class for recruit
officers while attending the academy. Mike Metzler explained that approximately 2040% of BLE officers are normally enrolled in the 18 hour class. This class was
originally certified for 24 hours. PTI will request re-certification of this course for 18
hours at the December, 2009 ILETSB meeting. Recruit officers stay late on a Friday
night and all day Saturday for the class. PTI has 25 9mm carbine rifles for the course
including a combination of Bushmasters and Colts.

Distance Learning – Discussion was held regarding implementing distance learning
into the BLE program. If recruits could complete prep work before arriving at the
academy, more information could be learned in the same amount of time. Larry
Hoover of Justex did a study to incorporate distance learning into the basic academy.
Chief Smith noted that many agencies do not have computers for officers to use to
complete online training. Chief Graff said ILETSB has considered requiring 80 hours
of pre-certification and decided this would not be easy to do. Consistency in
completion of training and hiring limitations were among some of the objections. It
was suggested that if agencies were able to hire 1-2 weeks before the academy, this
orientation period could include reading required material, as well as working on
report writing and getting familiar with each area of the agency. This topic will
continue to be discussed at a later date. Janelle Crowley advised as HR Manager for
Woodstock, their process is to not put personnel on the payroll until immediately
before a BLE begins. Sheriff Osmer advised he cannot hire a new employee until
there is an opening (example – his retirement date is 12/31. The county will not
allow him to hire a new deputy until after that date). This practice would have an
impact on any pre-BLE distance learning requirement.
Questions/Announcements from Board Members:

ILEAS – Director Fitzpatrick was asked what kind of impact ILEAS has made on
PTI. She responded by saying that PTI considered using part of the ILEAS building
for control tactics and other training to reduce costs, but decided that the facility did
not meet our needs. PTI has partnered with ILEAS to co-host a Pursuit Policy
workshop in November and looks for other opportunities to partner with them.

13th Week in BLE – At the last Advisory Board meeting, we were asked to consider
adding an extra week to the BLE program for optional courses to reduce overtime
incurred by recruits completing these courses in the evenings during the 12 week
BLE. Current budgetary issues for PTI and client agencies have caused this
consideration to be set aside at this time.

BCO to BLE Certification – Sheriff Thompson asked if we’ve heard if progress has
been made towards transition certification from BCO to BLE. Catherine Somers
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responded that ILETSB piloted a program with Cook County which was 13 weeks
long. This is still a pilot program and they are collecting data.

EVOC Training – Chief Baer asked if we would consider having a full EVOC class.
Director Fitzpatrick responded that PTI does not have a facility to have the EVOC
class and that the current area used lacks a proper road course and has not been
maintained. The vehicles used tend to receive a lot of mechanical punishment which
could incur a host of service and maintenance concerns. The cost of the current class
is around $2000 per day.

NIMS – Chief Smith asked if we currently provide NIMS training to recruit officers.
Recruits complete 100LE, 200, and 700 based on agency request. This is all
completed by computer based training during recruits’ off time and takes
approximately 2 ½ - 3 hours to complete.

Law Enforcement Training on MDCs – Sheriff Cady announced as the President of
IL Public Safety Network that they will soon have law enforcement training available
for officers to complete in their squad cars on their MDCs.

ILETSB Meetings - Chief Graff is a member of ILETSB as a police chief. As such,
he asks chiefs and sheriffs to feel free to contact him if there is an issue ILETSB will
be dealing with that interests or concerns them.
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