Officer survival training begins with the basic firearms course which is taught to all newly hired wildlife officers. The course consists of the fundamentals of shooting a revolver and shotgun. However, we take the course a step further and stress the importance of mental conditioning as it relates to surviving a gun battle. Our advanced firearms program relentlessly drills in the idea of mental conditioning. The training philosophy is "repetition leads to instinctive shooting." Repetitive drills in all aspects of firearms use are performed. The experience and the ability to shoot instinctively become all too important during the many field scenarios that we set up for our recruits. With the use of training aids, such as the fiber optic laser vests, we are able to set up and execute realistic shoot/don't shoot situations. We further prepare our wildlife officers to become and maintain themselves as survivors through our physical fitness program. The program is voluntary for incumbent officers and mandatory for new ones. In order to prepare our officers for other types of emergencies, we administer awareness programs dealing with crack cocaine and the AIDS problem. Our officers are also taught basic baton use and are each issued PR-24 police batons.
