New Detention Officer Course for State of Mississippi: Houston Law Enforcement Consultant Agency Helps with Development
The state of Mississippi hopes to improve jail operations and reduce liability costs by adopting a new standardized detention
officer course. The new curriculum replaces the current "jailer course" which is over ten years old. The Department of Public
Safety has been working with Texas based consulting firm, OSS Law Enforcement Advisors, since February to develop the new detention
officer course.
The approved curriculum expands the number of course hours from 80 to 96 and drops CPR and first aid, moving these topics as items
individual counties must provide. After completion of the detention officer course, officers authorized to do so can complete an
additional 24 hours of instruction to qualify them as a juvenile detention officer. According to OSS spokesperson David Salmon the
new course curriculum relies heavily on total replacement involvement or TPI. "That means throughout the training course, participants
are encouraged and required to participate in the educational process. TPI training involves hands on activities, group discussions,
multi-media presentations and team building exercises".
The new detention officer course also includes changes for instructors. From now on, instructors and academies wishing to teach
the new curriculum must first complete a Train-the Trainer session. At this session, instructors will become familiar with TPI and
will also be trained to focus their grading and evaluation process on student demonstrated proficiency rather than relying on written exams.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour expressed his satisfaction with the new curriculum in a written statement.
"Mississippi is proud to be on the cutting edge of career development by implementing new, comprehensive training curriculum designed to enhance the skills of our detention officers and juvenile detention officers thru state of the art techniques. I commend the Department of Public Safety for its involvement with this innovative project, which will play a large role in improving jail operations and reducing liability costs for our counties and our state".
OSS Law Enforcement Advisors developed the new curriculum from a job task analysis completed during 2007. The job task analysis
studied the tasks actually undertaken by Mississippi detention officers while at work. By studying these tasks, OSS was able to
tailor a specific course of study that directly relates to the real world. In addition to developing the new curriculum, several
OSS employees will act as instructors or "subject matter experts".
OSS is a Houston based law enforcement consultant agency comprised of police, jail, and security experts dedicated to improving both
public and private law enforcement and security operations. OSS provides security or law enforcement assessment, police policy and
procedures development, professional risk management and security or police training services.
For more information contact David Salmon at 1-800-262-1597 extension 205.
