Course Details

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De-Escalation and Control Tactics Instructor

Course Hours: 88.0 Hours

Course Description

This course is designed to provide student instructors the instructional knowledge and ability to teach a realistic approach to verbal, physical and mechanical de-escalation tactics, and provide their future students with essential skills for subject - officer encounters. 


Instructional topics include Legal Aspects of Force, Realistic De-Escalation Principles, Tactical Handcuffing, Control and Restraint Techniques, Active-Countermeasures to use in a violent encounter, Survival Ground Skills, Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Instructor, Expandable Baton Instructor, and TASER Instructor.

Prerequisites

Prior to selection for the course, students must submit the following documentation to the course coordinator, Casey Baynes at [email protected]. Documents should be in Adobe PDF format.


  1. POST General Instructor certification or equivalent. 
  2. Certificate of completion of GPSTC 40-hour De-Escalation and Control Tactics course. Special Note: Due to the update for this program of instruction, the 40-hour Defensive Tactics course shall be sufficient until January 2023.
  3. Medical Waiver (Download the form to complete here)
  4. Proof of actual Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) exposure. This may include identification of a course that required OC exposure in its curriculum.  Identify the course name, location and completion date.  Photographic or video evidence may also be provided.

Continuing after the first day of the course is dependent on successful completion of a physical fitness test composed of 4 parts to evaluate muscle strength and endurance, cardiovascular performance and anaerobic performance.  The test will be administered the morning of the first class day.  

  1. 25 full-body push-ups.
  2. 30 sit-ups.
  3. Bench press 75% of personal body weight.
  4. Complete a 1.5 mile run within 16:00 minutes, OR 300 meter sprint within 66.0 seconds. 

Prior to the eighth day of the course, students must complete all online training through Axon for TASER Instructor certification.  

Who Should Attend

This course should be attended by local, state, federal, or military law enforcement instructors prior to delivery of de-escalation and control tactics training.

Special Notes

Student must bring water bottle, duty gear (minus weapons except expandable baton), handcuffs, handcuff keys, and personal protective equipment.


For final acceptance into the course the student must successfully complete a physical fitness test evaluating muscle strength/endurance, cardiovascular performance, and anaerobic performance, which will be performed on Day One of the course.

Due to guidelines required by Axon/TASER, acceptance to this class will close two weeks (14 days) before course start date. All students registered and accepted prior to the close day will be notified by email of the any information needed to begin the blended-learning (online) training.

For successful completion of this course, the student must complete all blended-learning (online) training required for TASER Instructor certification prior to Day Eight of the course.

Contact the coordinator if there are any questions. 

Start Date End Date Location (Hover for more information) Time Course Number Status
04/22/2024 05/03/2024 GPSTC, FORSYTH 08:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. TBA Coming Soon
12/02/2024 12/13/2024 GPSTC, FORSYTH 08:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. TBA Coming Soon
05/05/2025 05/16/2025 GPSTC, FORSYTH 08:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. TBA Coming Soon
10/27/2025 11/07/2025 GPSTC, FORSYTH 08:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. TBA Coming Soon