The St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team hosted in February an Advanced Kinetic Breaching Course in the areas of the LaPlace, Reserve, and Edgard housing developments, ahead of the scheduled demolition of these complexes.
Multiple law enforcement agencies nationwide attended the training, which was conducted by Direct Action Resource Center out of Little Rock, Arkansas. The course focused on the technical aspects of munitions interaction with materials, advanced breaching skills, tactical implementation, and heavy-breaching techniques. This training occurred in and on vacant buildings in these vacant complexes.
More than 30 officers from Maryland, Washington State, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and Georgia stayed at LaPlace hotels to participate in the six-day course. The course benefitted officers as they enhanced their skills and capabilities, as well as added revenue to the local economy. Officers had the opportunity to network and train with other law enforcement professionals as they work for a better, safer parish, state and country.
On the final night of training, officers enjoyed a seafood boil hosted by the SJSO at the Lloyd B. Johnson Law Enforcement Training Center. The SJSO appreciates the donation of crawfish and shrimp from the La. Office of Tourism.
The SJSO also is extremely grateful to the St. John Housing Authority for allowing officers the use of these areas in LaPlace, Edgard and Reserve for this specialized training.
The breaching training is among ongoing educational courses offered by the SJSO. Sheriff Mike Tregre believes that continuing education for law enforcement is essential to improve skills, increase professionalism, and enhance overall job performance.
“It is my goal to train our department with the best courses and instructors from across the country,” Sheriff Mike Tregre said. “This course will not only benefit St. John Parish professionally but our surrounding parishes will benefit financially with the tourism dollars that was spent by these visiting officers and their families who came to enjoy Mardi Gras. This is just the beginning.”