Recently CBC visited Sheriff Arbuckle’s Desoto Parish Training Facility located between Longstreet and Mansfield, LA.  The training camp began in 1988 as nothing more than a firing range and slowly improved over the years.  The latest renovation, a $1.2 million health and fitness center directed to lower health insurance cost, was added in 2011.  The Facility houses the department’s vehicles, firing ranges, offices, health and fitness center, crime simulator, showers, large cafeteria and a conference room.  Sgt. Dusty Herring and Deputy Mike Armstrong together direct the facility that employees 102 full-time and 25 part-time staff members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sgt. Herring, with over 20 years experience, serves as the Fire Arms instructor and Swat Team Instructor. The facility also offers military physical training, tactics, and weight lifting.    Not only does the Desoto Parish swat team train here monthly, but other police departments such as Sabine, Mansfield, Many and Shreveport use the facility, as well.  Sgt. Herring’s swat team members have trained with the U.S Army Special Forces, The Russian Spetsnaz and the Los Angeles PD Swat team. Some of Desoto Parish Swat team also trained with Paul Haul of Nacogdoches, who is widely known as a master fire-arms instructor for the military, police and civilian marksman.   

 

The training camp doubles as a community event facility for 4 H shooting and youth shooting council. Free hand gun training and self defense classes are offered for women in the spring and summer.    When needed, the facility serves as a storm shelter and can house up to a hundred individuals.

 

With all the facility offers, probably the most important is the domestic disturbance training. It is vitally important for all officers in uniform to understand the complexity of domestic disturbances.  In real life, simple motions (such as reaching for a wallet) look the same as reaching for a gun, especially in poor lighting.  Negative media reporting on police officers in the heat of the moment and split-second decisions dictates the need for state of the art training to prepare for such situations.  Cutting edge technology for these circumstances is available, called a crime simulator.  A crime simulator trains officers in a variety of real-life scenarios but in a controlled environment.  It gives training officers some understanding of how possible situations can develop and forces them to work though these situations, teaching them how to diffuse tension and offering solutions before these situations are experienced in the field.  Examples of scenarios could be: a young sister and brother playing with a gun and the sister accidentally shoots the brother, a gun-suicide attempt at a high school basket ball game or an abusive husband armed with a shot gun in a confrontation with his wife. Receiving training that will better prepare them for these situations gives both the officer and the public an advantage in future conflicts.