Austin Community College District’s (ACC) Safety & Operations teams announce ongoing training programs to help you stay safe on campus. Below are 4 training courses you can take to help ensure your safety and the safety of those around you. 

SPECIAL SAFETY TRAINING COURSES

The college offers a series of safety training courses designed to help educate employees and entire departments on how to respond in an emergency. Below are several of the courses available.

  • Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events | This 2-hour course, provided through the Austin Community College District Police Department (ACCDPD), is designed and built on the Avoid, Deny, Defend strategy and provides participants strategies, guidance, and a proven plan for surviving an active shooter event. Topics include the history and prevalence of active shooter events, civilian response options, medical issues, and considerations for conducting drills.
  • De-Escalation Techniques | This 4-hour course, offered through ACCDPD, provides participants with the tools, skills, and options they need to successfully and safely defuse a range of critical incidents. Developed with input from hundreds of police professionals from across the United States, ICAT takes the essential building blocks of critical thinking, crisis intervention, communications, and tactics, and puts them together in an integrated approach to training. 
  • Emergency Planning & Response | This 90-minute course, offered through ACC’s Emergency Management Office, is designed to provide an overview of ACC’s emergency response plan and key concepts to help departments develop internal procedures and create opportunities for additional involvement in ACC emergency planning and response activities. 
  • Emergency Plan and Evacuation Procedures | This 25-minute course, offered through the ACCDPD, provides employees a refresher on emergency planning and response, safety, reporting, and evacuation procedures of company facilities and work areas in the event of a fire, hazardous material spill, natural disaster, workplace violence, or bomb threat. 

ACC staff who participate in these courses will receive professional development credit. 

To schedule an ACCDPD training course, contact ACC Police Department Training Officer Lt. Jesus Brantner at 512-223-7269. To schedule a course offered through the Emergency Management Office, contact Nicholas Caspers at 512-223-1205.

“ACC works closely with local, state, and federal resources to enhance its Emergency Response capabilities using national best practices and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as our foundation,” says Dr. Molly Beth Malcolm, ACC Executive Vice Chancellor of Operations & Public Affairs. “We encourage all employees to take advantage of the opportunities and training sessions that are available and urge supervisors to make it a priority to schedule group training sessions for their teams. Campus safety requires all of us to do our part.”

ACCDPD TRAINING COURSES

In addition to individual and departmental training options, the ACC District Police Department participates in regular and ongoing training sessions to practice advanced safety measures. Below are some key examples of the safety courses our officers take.

  • Active Shooter Instructor Training | In 2018, the ACC Police Department mandated that every Officer enroll in the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Active Shooter Instructor Course. Since then, every officer in the Department has attended the course and is certified to teach the active shooter response course to the general public. The course is designed to help the public learn how to respond and what immediate actions to take in order to save their own lives before law enforcement arrives at the scene. 
  • Emergency Team Training | Emergency Teams are trained to provide assistance to others in emergency situations. Emergency Teams are comprised of ACC faculty and staff and are led by the Campus Manager or Incident Commander. 
  • Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training | This course is designed to prepare the first responder to isolate, distract, and neutralize an active shooter. It covers shooting and moving, threshold evaluation, concepts, and principles of team movement, setting up for and room entry techniques, approach and breaching the crisis site, secondary responder tactics, improvised explosive devices, and post-engagement priorities of work. 
  • Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Training | Members of ACC’s EOC can participate in specialty courses designed to enhance the college’s rapid response and procedures in the event of an incident on campus or within the community. 

To learn more about all health & safety measures and to review helpful links and resources, visit the ACC Emergency Management website.