There is no difference in the type or amount of training between city or state law enforcement officers and ISU Police officers, but in some cases, local law enforcement officers train more than the state-mandated requirement.

Ames Police Department has regular firearm training its officers often go through alongside ISU Police officers. Ames Police officers go through regular firearms training alongside ISU Police officers, exceeding the state requirement by testing on a monthly basis, said Ames Police Cmdr. Jim Robinson.

“For firearms, training is mandated by the state. There is an annual qualification, and we go well and beyond the minimum,” Robinson said.

Local police officers train with firearms using a combination of silhouette targets and a shoot house, which gives the police different scenarios.

“The shoot house provides more realistic training,” Robinson said. “It is constructed of railroad ties, gravel rock and another wall of railroad ties. It is a thick-walled structure and is broken up inside for different rooms.”

This firearm training is incorporated into the officers’ regular training schedule and includes using handguns, shotguns and patrol rifles. Robinson said emergency response teams receive additional and more advanced training for the use of firearms.

Both University of Iowa and ISU Police practice provisional arming, meaning they are only allowed to carry firearms under emergency circumstances. According to the Department of Public Safety’s general order on authorized weapons, the specified weapons that the ISU Police are approved to use include the .40-caliber SIG-Sauer P229 semi-automatic handgun and the Remington Model 870 pump-action shotgun.

Other weapons ISU Police officers are allowed include: the Def-Tech 37mm gas gun, ASP expandable baton, Monadnock 26-inch polycarbonate baton, the M26/X26 Advanced Taser and Oleoresin Capsicum spray.

Although campus police officers have access to weapons and complete the state-mandated training, the fact that they are not allowed to carry firearms with them is a serious issue for the departments.

“There is nobody else in the nation that is in our predicament,” said Chuck Green, director of public safety at the University of Iowa.

ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger said their officers go through the basic training for all police officers in the state at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

The University of Iowa campus police are also required to attend the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. Green said they currently have four officers attending the academy.

In addition to attending the academy, both ISU Police and Ames Police officers attend field training that usually lasts around three months.

“We have officers that go through special training for the field training officer program. We have one of these officers on each of our shifts,” Robinson said.

ISU Police officers attend the same type of field training.

“The officers attend field training for over 12 weeks,” Deisinger said. “After it’s completed, we have ongoing training that is mandated by the state.”

Ames Police officers also go through regular checklists in order to verify that they’ve been shown the different policies.

“They check them off once they are able to do those tasks,” Robinson said.

After an officer completes the required academy training and field training, the Ames Police Department also maintains its new officers on a probationary basis for one year. “It helps determine if, in fact, they will be good assets for both our department and community,” Robinson said.

Although the majority of officer training is done prior to becoming an actual officer, Robinson said training is an ongoing process.

“There is a learning curve, and we have to keep updated with new techniques,” Robinson said. “We have in-service training, not just for the new officers, but ongoing with veteran officers as well.”

The University of Iowa police also have ongoing training throughout the year, going beyond state requirements.

“We go through individual training that is not mandatory,” Green said.