The Association of Training Officers of Minnesota was created in 1974 by a group of law enforcement officers who wanted to make a difference in training. To this day the organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and part time business manager. As a 501C3, the mission of the organization is as follows:
Purpose: To promote the professional standards of peace officer training and education.
To achieve this purpose, Association of Training Officers of Minnesota may conduct the following activities:
- Promote the development and exchange of training methodologies materials and resources with and for members and others interested in peace officer training and education.
- Enhance, support and cooperate with existing organizations that are involved with peace officer training and education.
- Develop, coordinate or sponsor training programs utilizing partial or total financial funding from either private or public sources.
As a way of honoring those who were instrumental in creating quality police training, the ATOM Hall of Fame was created in 1984. The main criteria for induction continues to be that the candidates have made a significant contribution to police training. Although there are currently many good police trainers in the field who may someday find their names in the Hall of Fame, the board has given their present attention to the pioneers who had to work very hard to make even small strides in the area of training during a time when funds were short and training was not a popular term. The concept of finding pioneers was on the minds of the committee members during the first years of the Hall of Fame, and remains one of the priorities.
ATOM provides training to all law enforcement agencies through Minnesota and surrounding states. In the past 42 years we can confidently say that there have been over 20,000 officers who have attended either single or multiple day courses, in a variety of modalities through ATOM.
APPLICATION