An officer from the Benton Police Department recently completed training offered by the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Ala. The CDP is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction training facility in the nation.
“The training was great,” Officer Justin Dorsey said. “I learned many new skills and I had a chance to network and learn from professionals from all over the country. I feel better suited to perform my duties and to better serve the community.”
The CDP develops and delivers advanced training for emergency response providers, emergency managers, and other government officials from state, local and tribal governments. The CDP offers more than 40 training courses focusing on incident management, mass casualty response, and emergency response to a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist act. Training at the CDP campus is federally funded at no cost to state, local and tribal emergency response professionals or their agency.
Resident training at the CDP includes healthcare and public health courses at the Noble Training Facility, the nation’s only hospital dedicated to training healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response.
A number of resident training courses culminate at the CDP’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological (COBRA) Training Facility. The COBRA is the nation’s only facility featuring civilian training exercises in a true toxic environment using chemical agents. The advanced hands-on-training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to, and recover from real-world incidents involving acts of terrorism and other hazardous materials.
Responders participating in CDP training gain critical skills and confidence to respond effectively to local incidents or potential Weapons of Mass Destruction events.
Information about CDP training programs can be found at http://cdp.dhs.gov. Visit the “News & Media” tab at the top of the site to download images, share CDP training articles, and find out what others are saying about CDP training. For more information about the CDP, contact the CDP External Affairs Office, at (256) 847-2212/2316 or email pao@cdpemail.dhs.gov.