COVINGTON, Ga. - The Newton County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officers completed the Incident Response to Terrorist Bombings course in Socorro, New Mexico June 24-27. 

The IRTB course provided SROs with the knowledge and skills necessary to safely respond to terrorist incidents involving explosives. The IRTB course focuses on first responder health and safety by addressing personal protection issues that arise when responding to terror incidents involving commercial and homemade explosive. 

Additionally, the course includes information on the recognition of Improvised Explosive Devices; terrorist organizations, both foreign and domestic; and lessons learned from past terrorist incidents. This information has better prepared SROs to safely recognize and respond to terrorist bombing threats. 

SROs can now:

• Recognize the history and current threat of terrorist bombings to the United States and its communities by domestic and international terrorist groups.
• Identify explosive physical blast effects and hazard mitigation techniques for personal protection.
• Identify Improvised Explosive Devices and their components.
• Identify tactics and techniques used by terrorists to conduct attacks using explosives.
• Identify personal protection considerations for a safe response to a pre-blast and post-blast bombing incident.
• Identify response priorities and procedures during a post-blast incident for the initial incident response.