suited to law enforcement operations in austere environments .
Throughout the summer and into the fall of 2014 , a Tactical Medicine cadre was formed within the SPPD SET and a Tactical Medicine Program was created . The program ’ s curriculum is based upon the concepts and principles of TCCC and TECC and the cadre would serve as a resource to provide tactical medicine training to the remainder of the officers in the department and in our region . The cadre partnered with a community resident and emergency room physician at our local trauma center who would assume the position of Program Medical Director , responsible for training , oversight and quality control of the program .
Tactical medicine , a specialty in and of itself , is essentially the blending of tactics with medicine . Good medicine can equal bad tactics and bad tactics can get people killed . As a result , tactics always take priority over the medical care . In November of 2014 , our tactical medicine cadre , together with our medical director , received comprehensive training at the International School of Tactical Medicine
( ISTM ).
By the spring of 2015 , the SPPD SET Tactical Medicine Cadre had trained all SPPD officers in the developed 2-day , 18-hour training class . As the officers completed the training , the department equipped them with an Individual First Aid Kit ( IFAK ). The IFAK contains all of the components necessary to effectively treat the leading causes of preventable death in austere environments . Focused on controlling bleeding , the IFAK ’ s are equipped with a Combat Application Tourniquet ( CAT ®), QuikClot ® Hemostatic Combat Gauze , Vented Chest Seals , a Nasopharyngeal Airway ( NPA ) and a couple of other ancillary items . In addition to the IFAK , all SPPD officers are issued another tourniquet with a duty-belt worn holder so it can be with them when they need it the most .
On April 1 , 2015 , revisions to Title 22 , Division 9 , Chapter 1.5 of the California Code of Regulations ( CCR ) became effective . The revised regulations now mandated that all police officers in the State of California receive 21 hours of initial training in tactical medicine First Aid / CPR /
AED and 8 hours of refresher training every two years thereafter . The SPPD Tactical Medicine Training cadre has continued with its mission and commitment to be the tactical medicine training resource in our region . Since the program ’ s inception , the cadre has provided training to over 115 police officers from 10 regional law enforcement agencies . For the remainder of 2016 , the cadre is scheduled to provide training to another 225 regional officers funded completely from the SPPD budget . After a recent award of $ 100,000 in Urban Areas Security Initiative ( UASI ) grant funding , the program will be able to extend the training to a significant amount of regional officers in 2017 . By adopting a regional approach , agencies are able to significantly reduce training costs and become compliant with the new CCR Title 22 requirements .
Our officers and deputies insert themselves into some of the most dire of situations imaginable with a high likelihood of getting injured in the process . It is therefore on us to provide them and the members of the communities in which we serve with the best medical support possible . ■
SPRING 2016 | California Police Chief 39