While the FRIDAY Program finds itself under grant restrictions for in-person meetings and travel, we are still available to provide training to your agency or organization. Due to Covid-19 interfering with the scheduling of law enforcement in-person classes across the state, you will have less time this training period to meet the minimum number of hours required by TCOLE. That is why, starting during the last grant year we began offering virtual training for both law enforcement and civilians through the Zoom online meeting platform. We are prepared to offer not just our 4-hour and 8-hour classes, but our 1- and 2-hour presentations in a virtual setting for TCOLE credit. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has also approved the providing of Continuing Professional Educator (CPE) certificates to schoolteachers and administrators.
While we would prefer to personally meet and interact with our audiences, current circumstances are keeping that from happening. Not being in front of a live audience makes it more difficult, though not impossible, to provide some of the training as we have in the past. For example, during our in-person 8-hour FRIDAY and ADAPT classes we cover a section on counterfeit identification. Each student who attends receives a free 50-State ID Checking Guide and a magnifier with a UV light. We then hand out driver’s licenses from various states, some counterfeit and some that are not. The students examine each to try to separate the real from the fake, providing them with a “hands-on” experience that is difficult to replicate online.
While we still feel that practical training examining these types of documents is best, during online presentations this portion of the course would need to be modified. So, while the students will not get a chance to physically hold the items, we will still have examples of the security features on licenses, including the features on the new Texas driver’s license, along with instances of mistakes found on counterfeit identification. Additionally, we will still provide the ID Checking Guides, magnifier/UV lights, and other material to the students who complete our 8-hour virtual classes. Participants can ask questions during live presentations through the chat function monitored by a second instructor, or on video during and after class. Finally, we can break down the classes to allow students to attend two 4-hour blocks, rather than a straight 8-hour presentation. Our staff is dedicated to providing participants with an engaging and informational online experience.
The FRIDAY program has two staff and 25 adjunct instructors, all law enforcement professionals, available to provide our courses both online and in-person. For now, if you would like a virtual presentation for your department, school district, citizens police academy, or coalition, please contact Lead Instructor Mark Busbee ([email protected] or (512) 659-8102), Staff Instructor Tamara Spencer ([email protected]), or Program Assistant Kimberly Garza ([email protected]) today!