The conference portion of the 2007 TREXPO East offered a little bit of something for every attendee. Once primarily SWAT oriented, the TREXPO conference now includes classes of interest to tactical medics, SWAT operators, patrol officers, and gang officers.

For the first time, TREXPO East played host to a Tactical Medical Conference presented by the International School of Tactical Medicine. The program included courses specifically designed for EMTs and tactical medics such as "Equipping the Tactical Medic" and "Keeping Your SWAT Team Healthy and Fit." But it also included an excellent one-hour presentation on wound ballistics by trauma surgeon Dr. Sydney Vail that had great value for LEOs of all stripes.

As always, one of the big draws at the TREXPO East conference was the hands-on defensive tactics courses. This year's schedule ran the gamut from edged-weapon defense to weapon retention. A highlight of the program was Michael Janich's "Counter Blade Concepts: Understanding and Surviving Real Edged-Weapon Attacks." The class featured video of actual knife attacks and instruction in how to counter them with both empty hands and armed response. Another highlight was Joe Maffei's "Quick Draw Ground System." Maffei's ground fighting system is one of the few that is tailored specifically to the needs of officers. It teaches officers how to retain their weapons on the ground and also how to draw them and end the attack.

In the wake of the Virginia Tech Massacre, this year's TREXPO East conference featured a powerful program on how to counter active shooter attacks taught by Greg Santoro of FLETC. The class covered the history of active shooters, response plans, and how to coordinate tactical operations and patrol units to stop the shooter.

One of the best attended classes at TREXPO East was "Night Vision Technology, Applications and Techniques" taught by David Narkevicius. The four-hour class was an excellent introductory course on night vision equipment and each attendee got some hands-on time with products from ITT, Night Optics, NVS, and Sensor Tech.