$125.00 per person (maximum 40 participants per course) - Includes: Full day course, coffee breaks + lunch

COURSE 1:  Active Shooter Incidents for Public Safety Communications, 2nd Edition

Prerequisites: Due to the nature of this topic, it is highly recommended that students have successfully completed a 40-hour formal basic instructor-led telecommunicator training program.

Active shooter incidents are high-risk, high-stakes events that, without warning, can cause devastating consequences in just a few brief moments. For all facets of public safety, including communications, there are a host of issues that make responding to an active shooter incident more difficult than many other armed subject calls.

These types of incidents have been increasing in frequency. Shooters have a wider range of more powerful weapons available. The motivations behind these incidents continue to grow more complex. As with any other type of emergency situation, the telecommunicator plays a vital role in the response to active shooter incidents.

Telecommunicators need to be aware of the unique challenges posed by active shooter incidents and be prepared to address them well in advance. This course looks at the role of the telecommunicator through all stages of an active shooter incident.

This course is built on the experiences of frontline telecommunicators who have worked active shooter incidents. Upon their recommendation, the course is structured along the arc of events that happen before, during and after an active shooter incident. The goal of the course is to educate telecommunicators about the intricate issues and challenges posed by active shooter incidents, including preparedness for an incident, response to an incident and the role the telecommunicator plays following an incident.

Topics include:

• Overview of incidents, perpetrators and targets
• Phases of an active shooter incident
• Getting and handling calls reporting an incident
• Dispatch and ongoing communications
• Responder safety and secondary dangers
• Handling calls from victims trapped in the incident
• Telecommunicators’ role post-incident: rescue and extraction
• Recovery from an incident: impact and stress, ongoing issues

Instructor:

Rhonda Braudis

Rhonda Braudis is currently the 911 Communications Director for the Marshall County Communications Center in Marshalltown, Iowa. Rhonda initially began her career with 911 Emergency Services in 2002 at the Salem Police Department, Salem Oregon as a 911 call taker. In 2003 Rhonda moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas to be closer to her family. She worked at the Fort Smith Police Department until 2013.

Rhonda has functioned in many capacities within her career, she began as a call-taker, became a 911 Dispatcher, CTO, Lead, created 911 Education programs, Tactical Dispatching programs, and served as the CALEA Communications Manager. While in Fort Smith Rhonda became an RPL (Registered Public Safety Leader) in 2009. Rhonda became an Adjunct Instructor, also in 2009, for APCO and also serves as an Adjunct Instructor for Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Rhonda in 2017 took on the task of teaching courses for the CDP (Center for Domestic Preparedness) in Anniston Alabama.

Rhonda has earned her Bachelors in Organizational Leadership, University of Arkansas, and her Masters in Emergency and Disaster Management, American Military University. After graduating from her master’s program, she accepted a position at the Independence Police Department in Independence Missouri in 2013 as the Communications Administrator serving almost six years prior to her current position.

Rhonda completed her CPE (Certified Public Executive) certification this past July, 2019 through the APCO Institute prior to beginning her new role as the 911 Communications Director in Marshall County, IA.

COURSE 2:  Public Safety Communications Staffing and Employee Retention

In 2009, the Next Generation of APCO Project RETAINS announced that research had proven turnover rates for emergency communication centers (ECC) in the US were at 19%. That was an increase of 3% since 2005 and still reflected a higher turnover rate than the teaching and nursing industries – both highly publicized staffing crises.

It is common knowledge that the public safety communications industry has suffered from an inability to effectively recruit and maintain employees. This in turn has required ECCs across the country to invest millions of dollars in a vicious cycle of continuous recruitment, training new hires and overtime that merely addresses the symptoms of this issue and not the core problem.

Designed to provide guidance and information to ECC employees at every level, this course provides over 300 tips, guidelines and effective practices on subjects ranging from creating effective shift schedules to candidate recruitment and from maintaining staff to employee recognition.

Instructor:

Dorothy Cave

Dorothy Cave is the Education & Training Manager for the APCO Institute. As the Education & Training Manager, she has the opportunity to oversee the APCO Adjunct instructors while reviewing new applications and developing new adjuncts. She also oversee the RPL Program for the APCO Institute. This includes reviewing and approving RPL students’ final service projects. Previously the APCO EMD Manage prior to my 2023 promotion.

Dorothy started her telecommunicator career in an agency in Savannah Georgia. Prior to moving to APCO International, she was promoted up through the ranks to become the Training Coordinator for 126 telecommunicators. She maintains her State of Georgia Senior State Instructor and State Telecommunicator certifications.