Tactical Patrol Officer is meant to provide individuals and agencies a one-stop training package to further up-skill their line personnel in some of the most important skill sets in the field. TPO provides training in tactical medicine, manual breaching, rifle/pistol marksmanship, and structure clearance techniques. TPO-qualified personnel can act as a force multiplier during critical incidents, bridging the gap between regular line personnel and specially trained and equipped response teams.

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The goal of the course is to send a better-trained officer back to their agency or unit who is better prepared to handle critical incidents as a true first responder when circumstances dictate an immediate, decisive response by an appropriately trained and equipped officer. Events show that immediate action by first arriving officers is responsible for the saving of many lives of innocents. The modern-day armed professional cannot afford to wait until the arrival of SWAT or other specialty teams when there is an ongoing critical incident such as an active shooter.

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Today’s armed professional faces a multitude of threats that they must be prepared to deal with. These range from the common criminal to the dedicated terror cell that is willing to fight and die for their cause. One needs only to look at the 2008 Mumbai attacks to see what a small number of dedicated and equipped personnel are capable of.

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Based on this evolving threat, it is imperative that armed professionals obtain training that is reflective of the new reality and threat environment that they operate in. Law Enforcement has since recognized that the old concept of waiting for SWAT is now no longer acceptable for most incidents. For incidents like active shooter or terrorism-related attacks, immediate responses are necessary by those personnel arriving first on the scene.

The Tactical Patrol Officer concept is meant to produce personnel who are specially trained and equipped beyond that of the ordinary officer to be better able to respond and lead others in a critical incident. The TPO graduate will have additional training on basic tactical medicine to provide aid to themselves and others, mechanical breaching to force entry into barricaded or otherwise blocked entrances, rifle, and pistol marksmanship, and structure clearance techniques useful in both a regular patrol setting and a dynamic critical incident.

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By packaging all these topics into a 3-day course, agencies can get trained officers back on the street in a short time and can put the officers to use right away. This is a cost-effective measure versus sending officers away to multiple different schools spread out across different dates. There is a heavy emphasis on patrol rifle competency as a rifle-equipped officer is a large force multiplier.