LEMIT launches free, online training program to strengthen public health enforcement efforts

Funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT) launched a free, online training program to strengthen civil and criminal environmental and public health enforcement efforts at the local, county, state, and tribal levels.

The three-year, $900,000 grant, will offer a wide range of courses for law enforcement officers, code enforcers, industry workers, sanitarians and others involved in the field. Called the Environmental Crime Program Training (Project EnCriPT), the program also will feature live regional training courses to provide hands-on experience in processing scenes involving potential hazardous materials.

The courses, developed at Sam Houston State University (SHSU), are presented online with an innovative approach to learning by combining both visual and auditory aspects. The project also delivers some courses as a cohort, which allows colleagues from across the country to take classes together and participate in online discussions and activities.

The project currently offers two online classes on ethics and media relations, and recently completed its first live training at Sam Houston State University in April.

Courses that will be available in the near future include:

• An Introduction to Environmental Investigation explores the ten basic components of basic environmental investigations
• Illegal Dumping of Non-Hazardous Waste defines solid waste, identifies public perceptions, reviews the components of scene processing and discusses the documentation process.
• Health and Safety for Environmental Enforcement Inspectors involves operational and safety planning, tactics and techniques to mitigate threats, and site specific health and safety plans.

The Project EnCriPT Web site also includes a wealth of information about environmental enforcement issues, such as state-by-state information on environmental laws as well as links to the EPA and other key environmental organizations.