Security Professionals, Law Enforcement, School Officials: Here Are Free Resources For You

Sometimes challenges in safety have little to do with knowing you need to improve, and more to do with finding the right information to make a change.  

That's why this note today should be of particular interest to security professionals and directors, law enforcement, and school principals and administrators who may be looking for new and free training. In today's run-fast world, I often find myself wasting time just looking for the right materials in the vast pit of internet resources. 

I'm pleased to announce a new, consolidated way to find what you need. I am part of the team at the National Center for School Safety, based at the University of Michigan. We just call it NC2S since that's the web site, NC2S.com.  

Through the years we have developed training, hosted webinars, and created a slew of free and online materials. These aren't just for or about school safety, they explore so much more. Looking for best practices in crisis response or how to write a grant? Maybe your team needs practical advice on de-escalation techniques, mental health matters, or anonymous reporting systems. Other training focuses on crime prevention, medical emergencies, and social media matters. 

NC2S just released a handy summary of all its resources by topic, put together on easy to view, one-page PDFs. Better yet, all of the PDFs can be viewed on one web site too, so no hunting around. Since its inception nearly four years ago, NC2S has hosted so much training and I have participated in a number, including webinars, podcasts, and more formal training opportunities.  

My company, Schweit Consulting, for example, created six training films for law enforcement and school administrators to support School Resource Officers (SROs). The beginning of a school year is a perfect time to introduce these short and powerful training films to SROs and school officials who want to better understand their role.  

These NC2S single pagers are a perfect place to start. They include key takeaways, additional resources, and discussion questions to help you put learning to action. Though using schools as examples, the recommendations are often applicable to business, religious communities, and other environments. 

One of these single-pagers is on de-escalation, for example, and links to a free, on-demand two-part webinar explaining how to introduce a trauma-informed approach to the escalation and de-escalation cycle including strategies for responding to behaviors and ways to remain calm and be present with a person during an incident. 

You can find all of the one pagers on NC2s's Product Highlights page here, or here: https://www.nc2s.org/resources/product-highlights/