FIELD TRAINING AND EVALUATION PROGRAM (police)

 

Program Overview

The San Jose (California) Police Department developed one of the first formal field training and evaluation programs (commonly referred to as the ”San Jose model”) in 1972. Department personnel realized that newly graduated academy trainees needed additional attention if they were going to become effective police officers.

The San Jose model was structured in accordance with a couple of important principles that have withstood the test of time. First, trainees must be provided sufficient time to learn how to apply their knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) in real-life settings. Second, field training personnel assess the performance and progress of a trainee’s efforts using a standardized set of job-related skills and evaluation guidelines. Without these guidelines, the reliability and validity of the training would be jeopardized, leading to claims of bias and favoritism from trainees.

Field training programs (referred to as FTO programs) modeled after the San Jose model are typically administered for a period of eleven to sixteen weeks; the length varies in accordance with department resources and needs. Various job-related skills serve as benchmarks to which a trainee’s performance is compared. To ensure program validity, these categories must be directly related to a detailed job task analysis of the position of a particular officer within that officer’s respective agency. In other words, it is important to ensure that all trainees learn how to use their skills to perform the same job activities that veteran officers within their department are expected to perform.

Any number of job-related skills can be used within the program to measure a trainee’s performance. A sample of these skills includes officer safety, field performance under stressful conditions, driving skills, control of conflict, report writing, use of the radio, self-initiated field activities, knowledge of policies, procedures, traffic laws, and the penal code, managing calls for service, and relationships with officers, supervisors, and citizens. These skills are critical because they represent primary tools trainees use to gain experience, maturation, and wisdom on the job.

It takes a special person to work with new trainees. The job requires each officer to perform multiple roles. First and foremost, each officer’s primary duty is to deliver a multitude of diverse services to the public. Second, the officer either serves as an instructor (referred to as a field training instructor, or FTI) or as an evaluator (referred to as a field performance evaluator, or FPE). The degree of commitment made by instructors and evaluators significantly influences how well trainees perform within the program.

Program Format

Instruction Phases

Upon graduating from a recruit training program, a trainee will attend a brief orientation session for the purposes of being told how the FTO program is administered and what is expected of participants. Trainees will be assigned to an FTI and begin the process of completing a series of instructional phases (usually three phases, each phase lasting three weeks). Time spent in each instructional phase corresponds to a trainee’s shift assignment. For example, a trainee could complete the first instructional phase on the day shift, the second instructional phase on the night shift, and the remaining phase on the evening shift. Continuity usually exists within departments relative to these assignments; however, each department may vary the sequence of the phase assignments.

As trainees progress through the instruction phases, they are expected to perform a number of predetermined activities. These tasks are administered in conjunction with a checklist contained in the trainee’s training manual, which each FTO uses as a guide to document a trainee’s exposure and accomplishments. The checklist also serves as a historical reference that communicates to the next FTI which activities a trainee has or has not performed. Concomitantly, as trainees complete each instructional phase and perform different tasks, they assume more and more responsibility for their own actions. Associated with this shift in responsibilities is a change in expectations by the FTI and the trainee.

Trainees must demonstrate the ability to perform the job of a police officer. Technically, by the end of the final instructional phase, trainees should be able to discharge their responsibilities in accordance with program standards (which is a direct reflection of what is expected of an officer working within the department the trainee is employed by). The FTIs determine whether trainees are capable of performing their job independently. As this becomes more evident, the FTIs begin to allow the trainees more flexibility in the performance of their duties throughout their tours of duty.

Part of each day is set aside for the FTI and the trainee to discuss daily performance. The FTI will provide detailed instructions designed to guide and improve a trainee’s performance. At the end of each training day, detailed documentation of a trainee’s performance is recorded by the FTI on a daily activity report. At the end of each week, the trainee, FTI, and a FTO program supervisor meet to discuss the trainee’s weekly progress. Meetings are also held at the end of each instruction and evaluation phase. The purpose of these meetings is to provide the trainees with an opportunity to discuss any problems or strengths and/or weaknesses they may be experiencing. Meetings also provide an avenue to check the administrative performances of the FTI so as to ensure that program standards are being properly observed and followed.

Evaluation Phases

Once a trainee completes all instructional phases, the evaluation process begins. This phase usually lasts from two to three weeks. Trainees are expected to demonstrate a degree of independence in the performance of their duties. Again, a trainee’s performance is assessed in accordance with how well the trainee performed job-related skills measured against standardized performance guidelines.

Remedial Training/Evaluation

If a trainee fails to successfully complete the evaluation phase, choices are available for management to consider. First, a trainee may be dismissed, as would happen during any other portion of the selection process if performance consistently fell below minimum standards. A second more viable option is to recycle a trainee through a ”remedial training” phase. This phase can last up to three weeks. The trainee is placed with a new FTI, and they concentrate on the weaknesses shown by the trainee during the previous evaluation phase. Upon completion of the remedial training phase, the trainee enters a final evaluation phase, also lasting two to three weeks. If the trainee fails to successfully complete this second evaluation phase, the trainee is terminated. Successful completion allows the trainee to complete the remaining probationary period.

Program Considerations

Despite the similarities of the various FTO programs implemented within different agencies, a number of variations have enhanced program administration as well as improving validity and reliability.

Standardized Evaluation Guidelines

A valid program must require and accomplish compliance with the use of standardized evaluation guidelines. Those guidelines include a complete description of what constitutes unacceptable and various degrees of acceptable performance. Program administrators have generally chosen to use a ”graphic scaling technique” to distinguish differences in performance. The San Jose model uses a sliding numeric scale, usually beginning with the number 1, designating unacceptable performance, and ending with the number 7, designating outstanding performance.

To ensure a reasonable degree of reliability, the San Jose model uses anchor points within the graphic rating scale. On a seven-point graphic rating scale, the numbers 1, 4, and 7 are designated as ”behavioral anchor points.” Since performance standards are specifically described for each of the anchor points, instructors and evaluators are more easily able to match observed performances with the other non-anchor scale points (that is, 2, 3, 5, and 6).

Additional documentation is required if performance is unacceptable or outstanding. Some departments require documentation for all observed performances, regardless of the scale designation awarded. Although program administration is perceived by management to be a fair and impartial way to screen prospective police officers, trainees will sometimes challenge recommendations for dismissal or termination. A chief of police or sheriff is usually the only person authorized to dismiss a trainee and will rely heavily on documentation generated by FTIs and FPEs to discount any allegations of favoritism, bias, or prejudice lodged against the department by a trainee.

Termination Review Committees

To assist a chief of police or sheriff in making a decision to keep or dismiss a trainee, termination review committees (TRCs) have been established in some departments. Committee members, designated by the department chief/sheriff, will assume responsibility for reviewing the trainee’s file. The material reviewed consists of documentation associated with the trainee’s performance while being trained or evaluated. The committee’s review is specifically designed to determine whether inadequacies or unfair practices adversely affected the trainee’s standing within the program.

The review process includes the ability to call FTIs, FPEs, supervisors, and/or program administrators before the committee to answer questions regarding the trainee’s behavior or to address accusations of bias and favoritism. This procedure strengthens checks and balances within the program and assures the trainee of a fair and impartial review to verify the validity of a recommendation for dismissal. The TRC ultimately makes a recommendation to the chief/sheriff regarding the trainee’s continued employment.

Conclusion

The most recent modification to the FTO program occurred in 1999, when the Reno (Nevada) Police Department developed a different variation that has come to be known as the Police Training Officer (PTO) Program. This program relies heavily on a ”problem-based” learning method in which the teaching method is ”learner-centered,” compared to the ”teacher-centered” San Jose model. Core competencies (skills) are measured in terms of how well a trainee performs various activities associated with substantive topics (that is, nonemergency incident responses, emergency incident responses, patrol activities, and criminal investigation). Core competencies and substantive topics are commingled to form a ”learning matrix” that serves as the heart of the PTO program. Problem solving is woven throughout the program and causes the trainees to become effective critical thinkers, which is a significant improvement over the focus of the more traditional San Jose model.

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