TIFTON – Sgt. Mike Tompkins of the ABAC Police Department recently completed the Georgia School Safety Specialist Certification program.
The certification course, recently approved by the Georgia Peace Officers and Standards Training (POST) and hosted at the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, equips law enforcement officers with the necessary skills to identify potential threats and address safety issues on campus.
“I’ve taken a lot of certification courses,” Tompkins said. “This class taught me things I’d learned nowhere else.”
Tompkins, who has been with the ABAC Police Department since 2008, was selected by ABAC Police Chief Frank Strickland based on his exceptional training and dedication to the college, its students, faculty, and staff. He holds five instructor certifications in POST and serves as the department’s training officer.
He said that the training dealt with how to respond to an active shooter situation, steps that campuses can take to prevent those situations, and measures to maximize the safety of everyone on campus. “One of the things they taught that I’d never thought of was to have classroom numbers on the inside of the rooms, not just the outside,” he said. “In the event of an emergency, it’s not likely that anyone is going to remember the room number they’re in, so we don’t want people to have to unlock the door and look out into the hall to be able tell first responders what room they’re in. That’s an idea I’d never heard in any other training, and it makes sense.”
The certification course, taught by industry experts John Anderson, Vice President of C. Anderson and Associates, LLC, and Colonel Chris Owens, First Line Security and Training, also provided Tompkins with knowledge on identifying potential threats before they escalate into violence. Additionally, officers were trained to recognize red flags and missed signals, enabling them to take proactive measures to ensure the safety of students and staff.
“Based on his tactical experience and leadership as the head of the SRT team, he was the perfect candidate to attend this important certification class,” Strickland said.
