Training: Page 10

Don't Lose Your Discipline

While attending the academy, most officers follow a plan to fit their academics and physical training into their schedules. Your skills now are still green but sharp. Don't quit!

Unintended Consequences

Have you ever asked a fellow officer where in the world they learned to do what they just did, and had them say in reply that they had been taught that in the academy? Or in some in-service class? Or had seen it in a training video? Here's one way that that happens.

BSing Wastes Training Time

There is not a cop alive who doesn't have a trunkful of good police war stories. In fact, I used to think the reason cops were invited to parties was for our great storytelling ability. But knowing when to use that ability is key.

Fears, Phobias, and the Dead

Rarely in the hiring process or in the academy do your fears and phobias come to the surface. But out there in Policeland, sooner or later something will manifest itself and provide you with a dose of reality.

Put it in Writing

There is one simple reason that you should have a written training plan: limited resources. You have to plan how you will allocate your limited resources of time and money, so that your department gets the most bang for its buck.

FTO for Life

There is an age old question that surfaces in this column of mine: How long will the FTO be my FTO? The first answer to this is that it depends on which phase of the training process you are in, but that is the incorrect answer. The real answer is, for life.

Can I Get a "Do Over"?

Yes, in the FTO program you can get hurt, killed, sued, and all of the nasty things of a cop's life up to and including termination. Do not get faint of heart. Just know that this is still a learning program and you will make mistakes!

Tips for Trainers: Class Preparation

Don't be on time…be early! We've all had the experience of sitting in a classroom as students, waiting for the instructor to arrive. There's nothing that conveys a lack of respect for your students more than arriving late.

Classroom Management

Every instructor has had the unpleasant experience of dealing with that one individual, usually sitting in the back row, who disrupts the entire class. Often these problem learners are the last ones to class, the ones returning late from breaks, and the first ones with an excuse why they have to leave early.

Conducting Safe, Effective TASER Training

Law enforcement trainers are constantly striving for more realistic training, because they know that the more real it is, the more officers will learn and retain. In the use of force arena, most training can be placed along a continuum, ranging from absolute safety on one end to absolute reality on the other.

Safe Training in a Troubled World

Every year around a half dozen law enforcement officers die in training accidents. While some of these deaths are related to fitness and health issues---for example an officer that dies after suffering a heart attack during a training run---there are at least two or three that die as the result of firearms or other use-of-force incidents while training.

Be a Mentor, Not a Monster

I remember a training officer I had once, back in my cub days, who decided that the best way to break in a new guy was to act all tough and hard, and to intimidate me with his experience and his disdain for me and for what I thought I knew.

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