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By Joe Carro This has been a busy year. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have provided challenges for all of our agencies. They have tested and taxed our personnel and resources like never before. In response, law enforcement officers from across the nation have stepped up and provided the cooperative service we have come to know, expect and demand of ourselves.
I may be a little biased, but I believe the Marine Patrol Officer Course (MPOC) has played some part in promoting this officer relationship. How many of you have been to the MPOC or even the National Boating Safety Instructor Course (NBSIC)? How many of you have developed friendships with other officers as a result of these courses? And how many of you have kept in touch with these officers, so when the call went out for assistance you didn't hesitate to say, "Hey, I know those guys, how can I help?" This year's MPOC classes promise to be some of the best. The U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Law Enforcement Academy (MLEA), previously known as the Maritime Law Enforcement School located at Yorktown, VA, has been a program component of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Charleston, SC for nearly a year. The facility continues to grow, and vessel-boarding opportunities have increased as there are now two fully operational Tactical Shipboard Trainers. All of these facilities are, or soon will be, equipped with video recording equipment to assist with student evaluations in training scenarios, including the use of non-lethal training ammunition. Many of you know there will be four MPOC classes this year. The dates of these classes are provided below, since opportunities to attend may still exist at this time. Contact your Boating Law Administrator or me for additional information:
There is more great news. We are awaiting a final decision regarding proposed changes to the MPOC course content. Meetings and discussions were held at the MLEA to determine what, if any, changes were needed within the MPOC curriculum. Attendees included representatives from U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, the MLEA, the U.S. Coast Guard Special Missions Training Center, and Mr. Jim Graybeal from the National Association of Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA). Student feedback, survey results, individual input and recommendations from NASBLA have all been considered regarding specific changes to the course content. As the Marine Patrol Officers and the boating public are the primary beneficiaries, all parties agreed that the development of two different courses would be optimal, (referred to as MPOC-A and MPOC-B.) Much of the content of these two courses will be similar in that the information will be beneficial to all marine patrol enforcement officers and, in some cases, other attendees. Some of the content is brand new and is focused on law enforcement methods and technologies. The current MPOC includes a forty-hour instructor development block of instruction during the first week of the course. The first week of the MPOC-B will cover boarding procedures, federal carriage requirements, gym, boarding platform, and shoot house scenarios and more. The second week will also incorporate changes. The current course includes an introduction to U.S. Coast Guard Boating Under the Influence (BUI) regulations and policy. The MPOC-B will integrate the full BUI live alcohol workshop block of instruction into the second week. Other blocks of instruction will remain the same, including the Accident Investigation and Reporting class, presented by a NASBLA guest instructor, and the Marine Theft Investigation class, presented by an IAMI instructor. A final decision regarding these changes and implementation of a second course has not yet been reached. When this decision is made, all Boating Law Administrators (BLA) will be contacted to facilitate any personnel changes to existing MPOC candidates. If you would like to attend or have your officers attend the existing course, please submit your applications now. There may still be openings available in this already great program. |
This interagency cooperation didn't just happen out of nowhere. It was due in large part to the relationships we have with our neighbor states, the U.S. Coast Guard, and individual officers both at the command level and the patrol officer level. 
