Moreno Valley College, Sheriff's Office Awarded Grant

Moreno Valley College (MVC) in partnership with the Riverside County's Sheriff's Office (RSO) was awarded a $2.625 million U.S. Department of Education HSI Title V grant for strengthening and enhancing the public safety program at the Ben Clark Training Center. The grant was part of $51 million the U.S. Department of Education awarded to Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) nationally. The awards are given to expand educational opportunities for Hispanic and low-income students. The HSI program awards grants in the hope of allowing institutions to develop or enhance academic offerings and program quality. The college plans on using its grant, named Beyond the Call of Duty: Achieving Advancement in Law Enforcement, to focus on institutional goals for its public safety program, including adding scenario training. "While scenario training is becoming more available to academies and training units," said Arthur Turnier, dean of instruction, Public Safety & Training. "Experiential and interactive corrections scenario training will provide recruits and staff the opportunity to work through potential real-life scenarios to sharpen their judgment and decision making while developing the specific skills needed to work within correctional facilities. Scenarios serve as a critical tool in changing and improving a recruit's future performance and success." The grant will also allow the program to increase student access to law enforcement programs and increase certificate/degree transfer completion rates and improve academic quality. The program's faculty will redesign and develop new law enforcement curriculum while increasing the number of students admitted to high-demand law enforcement and training programs. "The overarching goal of the project is to improve training and student academic attainment in law enforcement programs," Turnier said. "This will be accomplished by providing enhanced academic and support services; career, degree, and transfer preparedness; as well as enhanced training and certificate programs." Funds will also be used to add additional physical resources and facilities, which increase students' access to technology resources, like scenario-training programs. Staff will also be able to take advantage of increased professional development opportunities in order to maintain current standards, training and specialized corrections tactics. "The College and the Sheriff's Office will be national leaders in innovative law enforcement training in the Western region," Turnier said. "Interactive training with real-world tools, scenarios, and strategies for students attending the Corrections Academy at the Ben Clark Training Center is an opportunity MVC and RSO had not previously been able to realize.