Panel sends on training-safety bill

A bill that will require officers at law enforcement and firefighter academies to be trained and certified in recognizing and responding to health threats moved through the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor unanimously on Thursday.

Rep. Frances Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, presented the bill while sitting next to Christina Parks, the widow of Vincent Parks, the Jonesboro police officer who died while training at the academy July 17.

House Bill 1458 would create the Vincent Parks Act, requiring all instructors at training programs to undergo training on how to recognize health conditions such as sudden cardiac arrest, dehydration and concussions. Instructors also will be required to recognize and manage environmental issues that threaten the health or safety of a person.

It’s been reported that Parks was training for about 25 minutes in extreme heat before his death.

“It is found and determined by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that instructors do not currently have training or certification regarding concussions, dehydration, environmental issues that threaten the health or safety of a person, or sudden cardiac arrests,” the bill states. “That in the past year, a cadet died due to this lack of education on health conditions; that without immediate action, cadets or officers who are required to receive training will be in danger of having instructors without education or training on these serious conditions; and that this act is immediately necessary to protect the health and safety of cadets and officers who are required to receive training from these instructors.”