ANN ARBOR, Mich. - In participation with the national awareness campaign to motivate law officers to use seatbelts, FAAC Incorporated is releasing its training DVD ‘Tactical Seatbelt’ to the public.
For law enforcement officers, arriving safely to an incident is the first step of resolving the situation they were called to assist. But in too many cases, line of duty deaths and injuries are the result. And all too often, the use of a seatbelt could have prevented a tragedy.
The Tactical Seatbelt DVD, created by FAAC and its Public Safety Specialist Chuck Deakins, demonstrates two separate methods for tactically donning and releasing a seatbelt during a call or pursuit. It teaches donning and strategically releasing the seatbelt as part of a process an officer goes through as he or she arrives on scene.
“If you look at the statistics, motor vehicle collisions have been the leading cause of death for police officers,” Deakins said. “The simple act of donning a seatbelt will undoubtedly save lives; we need to make it a tactical part of their training and this DVD does that.”
Deakins, an expert in driver training simulation, said he generated the idea for the tactical seatbelt training from a conversation with a FAAC customer during its annual User Conference. An instructor was discussing the short amount of time he had to work with students on the simulator, and questioned whether anything of value could be taught in a 15-minute time period.
Deakins’ solution was to create the tactical seatbelt operation DVD. It is the first in a series of condensed exercises that will be developed to assist FAAC customers in advancing their EVOC training programs and a part of its Customer for Life Program.
The DVD demonstrates methods for donning and releasing the seatbelt, and stresses that repetition and practice, similar to how officers train with their weapons to develop muscle memory, is needed to make seatbelt usage second nature to officers.
“When you look around and see the driving safety initiatives out there, like the Below 100 campaign, you realize the scope of the issue,” said David Bouwkamp, FAAC Executive Director for Commercial Business Development. “Being in the driver training industry, we knew that we could use the expertise and equipment at our disposal to lend a hand in this very worthy effort.”
FAAC has made the DVD available to the public. It can be viewed here – http://www.faac.com/police_le1000.html.
To learn more about FAAC’s award-winning public safety simulator lineup, go here – www.faac.com
For a copy of or more information on the DVD or to arrange an interview, email Mike McLelland at mikemc@faac.com or call 734-761-5836.