By Maggie Wade
MS News Now
JACKSON, Miss. — Probation and parole agents with the Mississippi Department of Corrections received two days of tactical firearms training this week from the FBI. A press release sent to our newsroom states, the special training aligns with Commissioner Marshall Fisher’s goal to improve MDOC training.
Probation and parole agents, previously called field officers, now must undergo quarterly firearms training rather than annually.
“Qualifying once a year with a weapon is simply not enough,” said Fisher, a career law officer who started out as a police officer and worked as a parole agent before becoming a federal narcotics agent. “Probation and parole agents deal with felons every day, and they are dealing with more because the department has more people on community-based supervision than incarcerated. And, for whatever reason there seems to be more of an anti-government, anti-law enforcement sentiment in the country today than before. Our officers need to be ready in case they find themselves in a dangerous situation.”
Full story: More Firearms Training for MDOC Officers