Sixteen law enforcement agencies across southern Illinois trained Tuesday at John A. Logan College on a federal program called Stop the Bleed.
It's designed to train officers how to handle life-threatening situations where a tourniquet is needed, such as mass shootings, traffic crashes or drug overdoses. Each agency also received bleeding control kits.
Southern Illinois Healthcare Community Benefits Manager Angie Bailey says this training is especially important in an area like southern Illinois.
"We know living in rural areas, many individuals for EMS to get to them; it may be a long while. The law enforcement may be getting there earlier, so if we can help them be more prepared, then that is something that we want to do."
Harrisburg Police Chief David Morris says police are usually the first on the scene of an emergency.
"If one officer is able to assist and save one human life out of this training today it would be a blessing."
John A. Logan College Police Officer Danny Zoeller says his officers mainly operate on foot, so their response time is quick.
"Most places we can be here (campus) in a one or two minute response time, to where other officers in town may take five or ten minutes to get somewhere."
SIH Regional EMS Medical Director Joe Haake says he hopes this will become a common life-saving technique in the near future.
"I would say it would be reasonable to expect that within the next few years the bleeding control kits at public access points will be just as common as say a fire extinguisher or a defibrillator."
Haake says the training will also be provided to the public.
"Whether you're at a school, or a church, or a shopping mall, anybody could be called upon to have to apply first aid to someone this day and age. That's what we're trying to do, make people realize that within a couple of hours, we can train you to be a true lifesaver for any type of catastrophic event."
Public training will likely start in May during Illinois EMS week.
The training and bleeding control kits are funded through a $48,000 grant awarded to the Shawnee Preparedness and Response Coalition. They are being offered to 40 law enforcement agencies in seven southern Illinois counties.