FTO – Page 2

May 23, 2015• Trainers Blog

What Shape Is Your FTO Program In?

What Shape Is Your FTO Program In, and Does It Reflect Where You Want To Be?

It has been a long time since most agencies have done any significant hiring so what will it take to be ready for the new officers when they enter your FTO training? Most agencies will just dust off the field training program they have been using for years and be excited to get the new bodies in the field as quickly as possible. Although this will work for the most part, and your agency will be happy to get the officers on the street with the same training as your field training officers received when they started out, but is that good enough for today’s policing? (more…)

March 30, 2015• Trainers Blog

Texting vs Talking

After attending the NAFTO Conference in Washington State and attending the class “Generational Differences” I not only found out how old I was, but there was a significant generational gap between me and my trainee’s. In an effort to close the gap, not in age, but in knowledge I found myself looking up Twitter, Facebook and Instagram just to see how they worked. In my futile effort to understand it all, I found a lot of people freely expressing themselves. I thought if they were willing to be that expressive on a computer then they would have no problem talking with other human beings; boy was I wrong. (more…)

December 16, 2014• Trainers Blog

Leadership FTO vs Sgt.

About seven years ago I wrote an “FTO Manual” for newly appointed Sergeants & Acting Sergeants for my department. The entire manual was based off the principals and concepts I have been teaching for about 20 years as a Washington State FTO Academy instructor.

I wrote this article as an introduction to the manual. It outlines some concepts and principals about leadership I felt were basic, but important to a new sergeant. While writing the article I realized that any point you could substitute the word sergeant for FTO and it would all still hold true. I think if you read it from the perspective of being an FTO you’ll agree. (more…)

December 16, 2014• Trainers Blog

Creativity – Key for Developing Student Officer

I have observed that student officers tend to get easily frazzled with tasks that most field training officers would consider to be routine. As field training officers we should try to recognize these tasks and develop training to assist the student officers. (more…)

November 25, 2014• Trainers Blog

My First Day with a Student Officer

Without a doubt the concepts and principals of a field training program have evolved over the last 25 years. The value of a standardized program, offering the necessary guidelines and documentation, has more than proven its worth.

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November 18, 2014• Trainers Blog

Probationary Release: It’s Not Easy!

Over the course of the last seven years managing our Field Training Unit, I’ve been forced to make a multitude of difficult decisions. Luckily, it’s what I have trained myself to do. I cross my fingers most every day and hope that training and experience has helped me make the right decision. I recently made yet another difficult decision. That decision was to recommend a Probationary Release for one of our new Officers in Training. This was the fifth time in my tenure as the unit leader that I had to make such a recommendation, and I took note that the training and experience I’ve had on this topic did not make it any easier to handle such a bleak decision. (more…)

April 1, 2014• Trainers Blog

FTO Burnout – Article

Being a Field Training Officer is one of the most important assignments in each and every agency. Field Training Officers volunteer their services to their departments in order to share their knowledge and skills with the youth of law enforcement.

The Field Training Officer has first crack at developing the culture, attitude and work ethic of a young police officer. A role that must not be taken lightly! And most FTOs do not take it lightly. In fact, most FTOs take their responsibilities very seriously. In the year 2000 the National Institute of Ethics completed what was at the time the nation’s largest study of ethical standards inside law enforcement. They found that the Field Training Officer was the most frustrated officer in the department. (more…)

January 29, 2014• Trainers Blog

I Learned That From You

In my 23 years of law enforcement I have had the privilege of serving in many different specialty positions. I have been a detective, bicycle officer, Defensive tactics instructor, a TAC officer at the basic law enforcement academy, and a patrol sergeant to name a few. But the one specialty position I found to be the most rewarding was the role of the field training officer. I have worked for two different law enforcement agencies in my career and at both agencies I was an FTO. In fact after my 5 year assignment at the Basic Law Enforcement Academy was completed and I returned to my agency, I reapplied to be an FTO once the position came open. I had the pleasure of training 3 new officers before I was promoted to sergeant. (more…)

December 21, 2013• Trainers Blog

100th LODD – Follow Up to Below 100

Just hours after posting our article last night, we found on Facebook that law enforcement had the 100th Line of Duty Death.

We think it would be good for you the following follow up article. It’s About Saving Lives, Not Just a Number.

In case you missed our first article, Below 100, you can read it here.

Be Safe

December 21, 2013• Trainers Blog

Below 100

I usually don’t stop to write openly about my inner thoughts and emotions very often. But this may be good therapy? And yes, all active personalities in my head agree that this is a topic worth talking about.

I was driving into work this last Wednesday and turned on the radio to listen to my favorite afternoon sports show. Programming was different that day. I was listening to the annual fundraiser show this radio station and disc jockey run to raise funds for the 100 Club of Arizona. A very worthy organization, that help financially support the families of fallen officers and firefighters. (more…)

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