Public Safety Training Centre

Assiniboine Community College’s Public Safety Training Centre (PSTC) is located at the college’s Victoria Avenue East campus in Brandon at 1430 Victoria Avenue East. The space is unique in Manitoba, bringing together a range of simulation and training equipment into a single environment and may be used for a number of training purposes including:

• Scenario-based and tactical training exercises
• High-risk extraction exercises
• Physical defence training
• Use of force training
• The ability to incorporate a wide variety of vehicles into scenario-based training

The 8,000-square-foot facility includes a movable wall system that can be configured in any manner desired, as well as overhead doors for vehicles to be moved in and out of the space. A time-lapse of the modular wall system being reconstructed is shown below.

The PSTC also houses two modern classrooms and a debriefing room on the upper mezzanine, as well as secure weapons storage facilities at the entrance.

The Public Safety Training Centre is available for bookings for use of the space by agencies involved in public safety training, including the RCMP, municipal police services, Canadian Border Services, and Corrections.

Use of Force Simulation Lab

The most recent addition to the PSTC is an adjacent space referred to as the Use of Force Simulation Lab, which opened in spring 2018. This 2,700-square-foot space was made possible through a partnership between the Manitoba Government, Brandon Police Service and the college.

The space allows for complete scenario training exercises to be deployed using a life-sized video screen, shoot-back cannon, and a digital control room. The simulation technology makes it possible for trained officers and employees to decide how the scenario plays out in real-time, guided by the responses and actions of the trainee.

The computer system allows for more than 450 different scenarios to play out, all with the aim of training police officers and other public safety personnel how to react quickly and appropriately in situations that range from routine to high stakes. Updates are made to some of the scenarios every few months.

No live ammunition is used in the lab. Instead, mock-computerized firearms interact with the screen. The environment is large enough that vehicles and other props can be brought into the space through an overhead door, adding to the realism of the training exercises.

Locating training facilities and skills-based training is often a challenge to law enforcement and other public safety agencies.

More Information and Bookings

To find out more about the Public Safety Training Centre, arrange a tour or make a booking, please contact the staff at Assiniboine:

Karen Hargreaves
Dean, Health & Human Services
204.725.8700 ext 6789
HargreaK@assiniboine.net

Ian Grant, M.O.M.
Special Advisor, Public Safety
204.725.8700 ext 6623
granti@assiniboine.net

Mr. Grant is the former police chief of Brandon.