Armament Systems and Procedures known as ASP is an Appleton-based company that has spent five decades building police equipment used by departments across the country, including in Green Bay and Appleton.This week, ASP is putt ing a new class of trainers through its most demanding course. Those who pass will go on to teach law enforcement officers in more than 100 countries across Europe, Asia and beyond.Michael Hess, ASP's vice president of marketing, says training is the company's most critical function."If you ask anybody in our company, what's the most important thing we do? They will, to a person, tell you it's training."Watch the full broadcast story here: Appleton's ASP trains elite police instructors worldwideHess said the goal of that training is to teach officers how to handle life and death situations in the safest possible ways."Nobody likes a criminal, but it's also not in our interest to hurt people. And so training people to use tools safely, to expedite the process of de-escalating a situation, and effectuating an arrest in the fastest, safest, most efficient and professional way possible, is good for everybody."ASP trainer James Schramm said not everyone who attempts the course makes it through."Not everybody passes this course. It's extremely hard."For Schramm, the work is about more than technique it's about keeping officers alive."Even if it's just one thing that can make a police officer safer, so they can go home to their families, make the public safer, I think we've done our job."Schramm said he believes many officers don't receive enough quality training, and that's what drives the mission."Protecting those who protect. I don't think police officers get enough training, and if they do get training, it's not quality training."For every trainer at ASP, the mission is personal. Schramm and fellow trainer William Hansler are both 9/11 first responders, now using their experience to train the next generation of law enforcement instructors.Hansler, a retired NYPD officer, said the work allows him to continue making a difference."I'm retired NYPD. But now we still have to, I'm still able to have a hand in helping cops protect themselves, helping the public," Hansler said.Whether an officer is on patrol in Wisconsin or across the world, Schramm said the goal remains the same."But they're leaving better, I think, better instructors, in Appleton, better police officers, and better people," Schramm shared. ...read more read less