Texas Border Business
McAllen, Texas – More than 260 officers reported for training at South Texas College’s new Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence (RCPSE) in January 2019, according to administrators who spoke at STC’s first President’s Advisory Council Committee meeting of the year March 28.
Now in its first full year of operation, the RCPSE welcomed hundreds of officers from outside the state for training including those from Lake Charles, LA., as well as municipalities from Texas including Round Rock, Kingsville, Robstown, Leakey, Texas City, Big Spring, and Mentone.
Trainings for officers included courses in disaster preparedness, courtroom and testimony, and report writing. STC now looks ahead to upcoming leadership courses and subject matter experts in crime scene investigation, cybersecurity investigation, and digital forensics.
“We are the only organization in the state of Texas providing training for federal, state, county, local, and municipal agencies,” said RCPSE chief administrator Paul Varville, who facilitated the Advisory Council meeting.
STC is the first border community college in the nation to establish integrative training for local, state and federal professionals in law enforcement, public safety, fire safety, and homeland security along with the US/Mexico border.
The President’s Advisory Council meeting was organized to identify strategies that will be used in the development of the college’s 2020 RCPSE training implementation plan. The Council serves as the principal means to develop advanced training programs at the RCPSE and to ensure that those programs remain current with evolving technology.
Varville reviewed the three goals decided upon by law enforcement at their first official committee meeting in 2018.
Goals include developing and delivering 10 specialized skills courses that meet the unmet needs of state, local and federal law enforcement by Aug. 31, 2019; building a partnership with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and law enforcement agencies by 2020; and having the RCPSE assist agencies in recruiting and developing skilled individuals in the field of public safety.
“Our goal is to provide high-quality training in response to the needs of Rio Grande Valley law enforcement agencies,” Varville said. “We have a global vision for future training that provides state-of-the-art equipment along with emerging investigative techniques for all law enforcement.”
In 2018, STC President Dr. Shirley A. Reed extended an invitation to regional leaders in the law enforcement community to participate on the Advisory Council in order to provide recommendations for professional continuing education and college degree programs.
The $71.28 million long-range master plan is on a 64-acre site, in Pharr, Texas with additional acres available for future expansion. The Master Plan includes 534,385 square feet of buildings, structures and driving track to be completed in three phases over the next decade.
Dr. Reed said STC has made incredible progress with the RCPSE even though it has taken more than a decade to establish.
“State, local, and federal officers receive quality law enforcement training; however it is without college credit. STC will now provide an opportunity for officers at the state, local, and federal level to obtain college credit for training they have previously received by federal or local peace officer training facilities,” Dr. Reed told advisory committee members at the meeting.
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