A career cluster in law, public safety, corrections and security: a program at Great Plains Technology Center is not only serving its community's needs, it is also serving as a national pilot site.

When Oklahoma's Great Plains Technology Center began developing its Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security luster in 2003, the National Partnership for Careers in Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security, the lead agency for the cluster's development, was so impressed that it named the Great Plains cluster as a national pilot site for the emergency and fire management services pathway. The school's fire technology/emergency medical services technology program was in its second year when Great Plains Tech Prep Coordinator Sally Arrington applied for funding to develop the cluster. To receive the funding, however, Arrington says that they had to focus on all five pathways within the cluster. Those five pathways include fire management and emergency medical services, law enforcement, legal, corrections, and security.

Support from local partners was also provided. "The city of Lawton is a major partner, including the city attorney's office, Lawton Police Department and Lawton Fire Department," notes Arrington.

The city of Lawton provided funding for the training facility, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company provided the funds that helped build the firefighter technician/emergency medical technician (EMT) training facility. Agreements were put in place that allow the local fire department to use the facility for training and for Goodyear to use the facility to train its fire brigade. Local partners with Great Plains have provided other avenues of support, such as internships for students.

The Firefighter-EMT Program

In the firefighter-EMT program, students study topics such as technical rescue, hazardous materials first responder awareness, emergency vehicle operations, patient assessment, and infants and children. The students also learn about techniques used in medical emergencies dealing with psychological, drug and alcohol difficulties, and emergency childbirth. In addition, they gain firsthand clinical experience by observing and participating in ambulance and hospital emergency room situations. A firefighting practicum of 80 hours provides the students with a work-based learning experience.

According to Great Plains, the program "will prepare students to sit for and successfully complete the National Registry Examination for Emergency Medical Technician I (Basic) and qualify as a Level I Firefighter." Fire technology students can also apply credit toward a college degree through a cooperative agreement between Great Plains and Western Oklahoma State College, Altus.

Nancy Howell, the primary instructor for the EMT-firefighter program, has served as its instructor since the program's inception. She is a highly qualified EMT and firefighter and is currently the only female instructor of such an academy in the country. She uses her extensive knowledge and skills to promote success in the profession but also serves as a nontraditional role model for females wishing to enter the public safety professions.

Howell says that the curriculum, which meets the national standards, had to be adjusted in 2000 to make it a fit for high school students. For the EMT program, the curriculum is mandated by the Department of Transportation, and the fire training program is accredited by Oklahoma State University (OSU) through the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress.

"We have high school students and adults in the same class," notes Howell, "but you have to be 18 years old to test for fire and emergency medical services certification, so it works better if the students are seniors because the closer they can test to being 18, the better."

Real-world Experiences

Three Lawton schools and several rural area schools feed students into Great Plains, and the students get some exciting field experiences outside of the school as part of their training.

"The Lawton Fire Department allows our students to ride and do practicum hours," Howell explains. Ft. Sill Army Base, the private ambulance company Kirk's Emergency Service and Comanche County Memorial Hospital also provide opportunities for the students. Local organizations provide support in other ways as well.

"The majority of our advisory committee members are from local or volunteer departments," says Howell. Kirk's Emergency Service and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge also have members on the committee.

"I am also an OSU field instructor for fire service training and do evaluation for testing," says Howell, "which helps the Great Plains program because we work so closely with them and it makes it easier to get the newest updates of the curriculum."

The training is not always easy so it requires a certain level of dedication from the students.

"We are unique in that we train outside in any weather to make it as realistic as possible," Howell notes. "We have a pretty big complex, and it is used for training across the board--fire, police and EMT training. Students have access to other professionals because, across the hall, the city of Lawton may be doing training for firefighters."

Some of her students have gone directly to work for the fire department or serve as volunteer firefighters, while others have gone into the military. One female student went into explosive ordnance in the military as a result of her training at Great Plains. Others have gone to work for companies such as Goodyear Tire and Rubber and Halliburton.

"They can take the training they get here into industry because most big plants have first responders or fire brigades," says Howell.

She also notes that, "Students who get their certifications here are going to get jobs where they will be in charge of life safety and property. We take that very seriously. You may be a high school student, but you have to have adult maturity to do this job."

She is proud of her students and also proud of the fact that the program has created the foundation for others in Oklahoma. In addition, the Great Plains EMT-firefighter program and the Lawton Fire Department were presented the 2005 Exemplary Worksite Learning Award sponsored by CORD and Caterpillar Inc. at the National Tech Prep Network Conference in Orlando.

Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice

The Great Plains law enforcement and criminal justice program is proving similarly successful. Full-time courses cover security guard, traffic procedures, first responder/CPR/first aid, criminal law/property crimes, as well as criminal investigation of violent crimes, computer crimes, hate and gang-related crimes, illegal drug trafficking and terrorism. The students also participate in an 80-hour internship in a professional law enforcement environment.

Buddy Neasbitt, who teaches in the law enforcement and criminal justice program, was a police officer for more than 24 years and has taught many facets of law enforcement since 1985. In 1990 he became a DARE officer and in 2000 began teaching at Great Plains. He finds that being in law enforcement and being a teacher both have unique challenges.

"As a police officer you have to deal with people from all facets of life, and as a teacher it's the same," Neasbitt says. For both jobs, he adds, "You constantly have to be on your toes."

His program also mixes high school students and adults, with the adults able to come all day and complete the course in one year instead of two. Neasbitt runs his program under the same guidelines as the certifying agency for law enforcement in Oklahoma, the Council of Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET).

"We teach real-world, real-life training," he says.

The Great Plains students get all of the necessary training except for the live fire arms training, which requires them to be 21 years of age. Since they are on a high school campus, live fire arms are prohibited anyway, but the most important part of being a law enforcement officer, notes Neasbitt, is decision making. Students can work on that skill with a fire arms training system that the Lawton Police Department has placed on the campus. The system uses a carbon dioxide-driven pistol that fires a laser against a specialized computer screen. The computer then shows students how they reacted to the situation.

In addition to the $80,000 fire arms system, the students also have access to the $250,000 on-campus driving simulator where the police department does its inservice training. A MILO Range system was recently funded through the Tech Prep Consortium for cadet training in connection with the firearms and defensive driving simulators. The system captures not only what is on the computer screen but also records what the trainee is doing in real time, including voice commands. That information is stored digitally and becomes a part of the trainee's record.

The law enforcement and criminal justice program also has an advisory committee in place, and it includes the chief of police, a deputy chief and one of the captains, as well as representatives from several different areas of law enforcement--some of them former students.

Safety, Service and Support

Neasbitt says the reason he runs his program under the same guidelines as CLEET is that he hopes many of its graduates will end up in law enforcement. "So far," he notes proudly, "all of them have."

Some of them are working while looking to further their education and training. One former student, who is also on his advisory committee, is working in security for the home improvement chain Lowe's while preparing to apply at the FBI Academy. Students also earn college credit in the program. The students earn 19 college hours at Western Oklahoma State College by completing the program, and those credits are transferable to any college or university in Oklahoma. Neasbitt says he is hoping to increase that to 30 credit hours next year.

Neasbitt has doubled his enrollment since the program began, but he acknowledges the support he received from others as playing a role in that success--especially one instructor who teaches at Central Technology Center in Sapulpa.

"I have a lot of respect and gratitude for Mark American Horse," Neasbitt says. "He helped in getting it up and running and has been very supportive."

Neasbitt and American Horse presented their program in March at the National Conference Fostering Careers in Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security. Neasbitt is planning to continue making improvements to his program, such as teaching it in a college semester rather than a nine-week format, and is also hoping to receive a grant that will help him take it to another level.

According to Clarence Fortney, director of secondary programs at Great Plains, that next level includes plans to build another facility for the law enforcement program that will be next door to the firefighter-EMT building.

"We hope to build a two-story building, with the first floor below ground and bunkered and reinforced to withstand any disaster, "says Fortney. "The law enforcement training facility would be on the second floor."

Meanwhile, interest in Neasbitt's program continues to grow, and when interested students from feeder schools come for tours, his students not only talk to them but present demonstrations that may include handcuffing, forensics and hand-to-hand combat. But one thing he wants to make clear to potential students is that, "This is not razzle-dazzle, like what they see on 'Miami CSI.' They need to understand that law enforcement in the real world is what we teach."

Not only are the law enforcement and criminal justice program and the firefighter-EMT program at Great Plains Technology Center teaching real-world public safety and security skills to meet their local community's needs, they are also serving as models for other schools and districts to replicate. As instructors Howell and Neasbitt share their stories at national conferences such as Fostering Careers in Law, Public Safety, Security and Corrections and the National Tech Prep Network Conference.

For those who do want to replicate the program, Fortney says, "The key is local support from the public safety community. Without the Lawton Police Department and Fire Department, we would not be able to do the training."

The partnership that has been created there will continue to benefit Lawton and the surrounding communities that have access to the training at Great Plains, and will also benefit the career and technical education community by serving as a national model.

Susan Reese is a Techniques contributing editor. She con be contacted at [e-mail].