Active Assailant Training Classes Offered By Bel Air Police Free Of Charge

BEL AIR, MD — Bel Air police officers Nick Rhodes and Logan Walsh held active assailant training classes Tuesday with 10 staff members from Springboard Community Services.

The group first met in the police department community room where Rhodes and Walsh demonstrated lifesaving techniques such as applying a tourniquet to stop a person from bleeding to death. Rhodes, an Officer First Class, also serves in the military and is a nine-year member of the Marine Corps Reserves. He also is certified as an active shooter response trainer through the ALERRT Center at Texas State University.

According to Bel Air officials, Rhodes showed the group how to apply a CAT, or combat application tourniquet, made by North American Rescue – the device is the Official Tourniquet of the U.S. Army, according to the company website.

Walsh, who also is a self-defense and physical fitness instructor, said that many improvised tourniquets were created by people working to help those injured in a mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas in 2017.

Rhodes urged the group to regularly practice lifesaving skills to the point that they become instinctual in case of an actual emergency – take the several minutes they would normally spend scrolling through social media and practice applying a tourniquet instead.

He also recommended people keep a first aid kit with them at all times in case there is a need to care for a person in distress. Rhodes held up the IFAK – Individual First Aid Kit – he carries even when off duty.

The group also headed to Springboard to run through several different active shooter scenarios.

The Bel Air Police Department provides active assailant training sessions free of charge. Anyone who wants to set up a training session for their business or organization can contact Kimberly Blanton of the BAPD at kblanton@belairmd.org.