As it stands, the Cocopah Indian Tribe, the Gila River Indian Community, and ITCA are the only entities thus far to have federally recognized tribal training officers.
The Cocopah Indian Tribe is now one of two Arizona Native American tribes to have federally recognized tribal training officers.
“It’s an honor to serve the community in this capacity,” said Cocopah Emergency Manager Mike Fila.
“It means—instead of having to request instructors from the state or federal government---we will be able to conduct this training here,” Fila said.
Fila in August completed a 40-hour course in Phoenix, provided by the ITCA. In September, he received a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency officially recognizing him as a certified tribal training officer.
The program is a joint effort between FEMA and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. The Tribal Training Officer (TTO) program teaches emergency managers how to train individuals in areas related to emergency management such as the Incident Command System (ICS) as well as homeland security, hazardous materials, and record keeping, just to name a few.
“The significance (of the program) is great,” said Nathan Nixon, ITCA Emergency Preparedness Program Coordinator.
“The federally recognized TTO provides the opportunity for tribes to set their own training schedule and most importantly, provide training that is based on their own tribal government infrastructure,” Nixon said.
Since the TTO training program started in July 2013, ITCA has trained more than a dozen people from among the 22 tribes in Arizona.
As it stands, the Cocopah Indian Tribe, the Gila River Indian Community, and ITCA are the only entities thus far to have federally recognized tribal training officers.
