Advanced Drivin Skills

[drivermel]

I know that all police agencies have internal, advanced driving skills courses, and suspect that these courses are compulsory, but what about the outside curricula like Bondurant, Skip Barber and Russell? Are these agencies contracted to run driving course for police, or are you encouraged or reimbursed to attend one?

My wife gave me a 3-day Russell Racing course for my 50th - a cool gal and a great 3-days that we turned into an outing by booking a B&B in nearby Sonoma for the two of us. The course was a humbling experience but definitely increased my skills on the track - and the road too (some nice, new entrance/exit ramps in No.Cal).

[hemicop]

Some agencies encourage & pay for officers to go to these schools. Mine doesn't . Some insurance companies even offer discounts for attending thes specilty schools. As you know, these are relatively expensive so most agencies don't bother with them, especially in this day of prohibiting pursuits.

[Sleuth]

While they are very useful, keep in mind that they are all one a 'one way street'. In the real world, on the 'two way street', people with little to no training and common sense stop suddenly in front of you, or even put their car sideways when they see the lights or hear the siren.

The schools are well worth it in my opinion.

[NORCOCOP]

Does doing evasive manuevers/ober steer corrections in snow or rain covered parking lots count?

[Ursao]

Unless they can teach me how to launch my squad car like a surface to air missile at a helicopter that's shooting at me with a heavy caliber machine gun, I think my pursuit/emergency driving skills will be sufficient.

"I ran out of bullets."