Tuscaloosa Co. Sheriff’s Deputies Sharpen Skills In Dramatic Training Exercise
If you were traveling in Northport on Alabama Highway 69 North this afternoon you may have been startled to see numerous Tuscaloosa County Sheriff units, a tactical truck and support vehicles accompanied by numerous deputies in tactical gear. Fear not, it wasn't an actual operation of some sort. It was a live training exercise.
The staging area for the exercise was the parking lot of Tuscaloosa Music Institute with the active exercise just down the road. It was on property owned by Austin Marcum, a friend of Sheriff Ron Abernathy. The scenario was practicing tactical entry operations.
The sheriff told Tuscaloosa Thread live exercises help deputies experience real-world situations and understand the variety of encounters that can arise. This gives deputies experience in an evaluated exercise where they can learn from any mistakes and improve their skills. It teaches them how to safeguard themselves and deescalate the situation they have encountered.
"Based on all my years of law enforcement and military experience, I know your troops are going to respond in a real-world situation," Sheriff Abernathy stated. "It is important they respond the same way they train. This allows our deputies to be effective and safely respond to real situations."
Like a sports team practicing their gameplan, law enforcement officers respond like they practice. Exercises are the equivalent of a science laboratory in school where lessons taught by instructors are put into real-time action.
Tactical situations are dynamic and highly stressful, live exercises like today help deputies understand stress levels for themselves and the suspect and to learn to expect the unexpected.
The Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission requires 520 hours of basic training but after certification, training and exercising what has been learned never stops throughout a deputy's career.
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