Counsellor Training
25th January 2011
We have just completed our first PFOA Counsellors training course. The course was at Federation House, Leatherhead. We had 12 counsellors attend who had been paper sifted and interviewed from 168 applicants!
The first day started with an input from Roger Middleton on the role of a firearms officer, training and law. This was followed by Mark Williams talking about the Post Incident Procedures and investigations following a police involved shooting. The counsellors were then subjected to the Lasershot range where Ben Lacey put them under pressure with regard to memory recall, and decision making. We then conducted mock interviews using firearms officers from the Met and Sussex.
Day 2 saw an input first thing in the morning by Dave Blocksidge on research science followed by a principal officer and his wife talking about their experience following a fatal shooting. We then had a visit from a Met ARV crew who showed the counsellors their vehicle and equipment and discussed their role in detail. All in all it was an excellent weekend with very good feedback from our counsellors. This course was the first of its kind and will help our counsellors assist officers and their families with an understanding of what firearms officer do.
We are grateful for the assistance of the Met ARV officers and CO19 for enabling them to attend. Special thanks should also go to Steve, Dave, and Rich for attending on their days off to assist us.
The PFOA trainers were Ben Lacey, Roger Middleton, Mark Williams and Maria (lead counsellor)
Ben Lacey
Roger Middleton
and Fed House great facilities
Lasershot range
The first volunteer!
Training interviews with firearms officers
Met ARV input
Roger, Ben and Mark