On April 10th, 2018 our Tampa Connection class participated in Public Safety Day, an exhilarating day to say the least.

The goal for the day was to introduce class members to the inner workings of the public safety sector in the Tampa Bay area and learn about their mission to safety in our community.

The program kicked off at the Police Training Academy, where Senior Corporal Jared Douds talked about the training that goes on at the academy to produce the best police force. The class participated in a series of exercises including Tactical Driving, Intervention Techniques and Pursuits, taking turns riding in police cars. We toured the Range Facility, participated in a taser demo where surprisingly many volunteers elected to be tased, and experienced firsthand TPD’s Virtual Shooting Simulator. The morning ended with a live demonstration by the SWAT team.

During lunch, FBI Special Agent Christopher Johnston, shared his experiences of what it’s like to lead the FBI’s Evidence Response Team and the Hazardous Evidence Response Team (Hazmat).

The class then headed over to Tampa International Airport for an afternoon of learning all about the intricacies of day-to-day operations at a top-notch busy airport. Joe Lopano, CEO of TIA, kicked things off with an informative presentation about the airport’s plan to expand and the challenges along the way. This was followed by a behind the scenes tour of TIA’s baggage handling system and Airport Operations Center & Incident Command Center.

This thrilling day wrapped up with happy hour at P.F. Changs. Class members reminisced about the many highlights of Public Safety Day while enjoying one of the airport’s newest restaurants.