NEWS
NORMAN, OK – For the second time in five years, OUPD in cooperation with the OU Athletic Department will host the Tacflow Academy’s Police Sniper Response to a Public Venue™ training. Taught since 2008, the curriculum has trained more than 1,000 international, federal, state, and local SWAT personnel charged with protecting large sports venues, including Super Bowls and Olympic games. This training is not open to the public.
On Tuesday, officers will participate in training scenarios and responses from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. inside the Lloyd Noble Center.
The remainder of the week officers will train inside the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium:
This opportunity allows participating officers to do realistic and meaningful training inside the venues in a safe manner. Officers are required to pass a stringent qualification test prior to shooting live rounds in the arena and stadium. The course utilizes specially designed bullet trapping targets that safely capture 100% of projectiles that are fired into them.
Since the initial Police Sniper Response to a Public Venue™ training hosted at the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and the Lloyd Noble Center in May of 2019, the multi-jurisdictional South Metro SWAT marksmen have conducted annual sustainment training each summer prior to the beginning of football season.
Although all participating officers are required to use sound suppressors on their rifles, the public is advised that gunfire will be heard in the immediate vicinity of the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and the Lloyd Noble Center during training hours.
“This training course and the annual sustainment training demonstrate the university’s commitment to ensuring that police are afforded the opportunity to conduct realistic training inside the venues that they protect. This type of training is part of our annual preparation for OU football and other large public events,” said OUPD Deputy Chief Kent Ray.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. OU was named the state’s highest-ranking university in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent Best Colleges list. For more information about the university, visit ou.edu.
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