Museum Notes

We recently held a banquet to honor our Officer of the Year and it was a great success. With representatives and awardees from four local departments, regional and local dignitaries and officers in attendance, we formally awarded our national Officer of the Year, Detective Jared Reston of the Jacksonville (Florida) Sheriff’s Office with our highest awards to a living officer. We also awarded our national runner-up, Stephanie Simpson of the Carter County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Office, and the honorees from the four local departments. Detective Reston shot and killed a suspect who had shot him seven times at close range in the chest, side and lower body in an awesome display of professionalism and will to live. Officer Simpson inserted herself into a situation in which a suspect wielding a rifle held a superior officer at bay. She was shot in the face by the suspect with a high powered rifle. She then shot the suspect once after being hit and this allowed her superior to shoot and kill the suspect. The honorees were ultimately selected after a nationwide search that included many officers who went above and beyond the call of duty.

Our Segway Exhibit is up and running and it illustrates an excellent mode of urban transportation in use today by law enforcement. The groundwork is still being laid for a unique, innovative educational simulator. We are planning our Police Officer Memorial Day observance for May 15^th which will be a ceremony at dusk on that night. We expect a record turnout of perhaps 750 people including over 200 survivors. Make sure you do something on May 15 to remember those who lost their lives in the line of duty. Say a prayer of thanks, send flowers to your local department or stop by and tell them that you are thankful for them and appreciate them. The effort will not go unrewarded.

Shooting Center Bullets

The Shooting Center had its busiest year yet with over 18,400 shooters spending time with us working on personal protection skills, enjoying recreational shooting or competing in one or more of our five leagues. As is typical across the country, our Concealed Carry of Weapons classes are jammed, and the seven outside training companies who use the range as a training facility have full classes as well. 2009 has started very well and we anticipate even more people will be shooting with us this year.

Training Center Update

The Training Center continues to be busy. We just finished hosting events for United Space Alliance, Titusville Chamber of Commerce, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and the Boy/Girls Scouts.