Police Training Course - Research Paper Example

?Police Training Introduction Police training is a intended to improve the skills and the knowledge of the new recruits and uniformed police officers. This course deals with large and small police departments. During this training course, the officers are presented with techniques and ideas to help them tackle their assigned duties. In most occasions, interviews and crime scenes are the available means in solving matters of criminal cases. Therefore training will enable them plan for their work and update of the various job functions they have to attend. Functions and duties of police Police officers are trained to detect and prevent crime, arrest offenders, maintain law and order in the society. In addition, they are charged with the special tasks like surveillance, VIP protection, child protection, and counter terrorism. They are also offered training about how to perform investigation on major crimes such as rape, drug trafficking, murder, and fraud cases. However, police officers are anticipated to react very rapidly to a range of scenarios that may arise and intervene an incident of crime either when on or off duty. Rules and regulations states how a police officer should respond and perform within the society. In some nations, regulations and rules states that police officer is anticipated to appear in an incident of crime, even if they are on leave (Johnson, 2007). Additionally, at the crime scene, the police officer is assigned the duty to collect evidence concerning the crime investigations as well as identifying the witnesses to show evidence in the court of law. They also offer first aid to the injured person in accidents like car crashes and shoot outs. They must obtain a written document from the scene of an accident. Another important duty of the police officer is to escort the criminals to and from the court during their trials, remove the wreckage from the scene of an accident as well as controlling the traffic. Apart from giving tight security to public places and airports, police officers are also trained on how to look after the security of the national parks since they must protect the tourist and other people visiting the parks. Lastly, police are also in charge of reprimanding criminals’ by issuing summons which normally may lead to the imposition of fines, especially for traffic law violations. Entry Qualifications and promotion of police Recruitment of police officers usually follows the common procedure, and candidates must have undertaken some formal education. There are personality characteristics that have been used to identify the desirability of police applicant such as honesty, neuroticism, extroversn, carefulness, and friendliness as suggested by (Pope, 1981). While, the undesirable characteristics of police are; hostility, obsession, lack of impulse control, fear or suspicion, and substance abuse. Before training of police starts, the aforementioned are considered to be the best qualifications as far as character is concerned. Before receiving promotions to the higher positions especially from constable to inspectors or sergeants, a scheme has been developed whereby people who hold university degrees are considered and must spend two to three years serving the position as constables. Recruitment of police is also conducted from those who have security services or military experience. For instance, Johnson illustrated that in the United States, state laws may relates to the qualification standards in regardless of education, age, training, and status of criminal record though in other nations qualification requirements are set by local police agencies (2007). However, for one to get promotion to the higher rank, he or she must attend and pass some kind of interview board, examination, or other procedures of selections. Even though promotion generally entails salary increase, it again includes with it an increase in responsibility and mainly, an improvement of administrative rules and regulations. Generally upon the completion of two years of service, specialist positions like police dog handler, water police officer, motorcycle officer, and mounted police officer may also be taken into close consideration by the officers. In contradiction, police ranks may also be increased through recruitment, in relation to national service in the military of Singapore (Pope 1981). Thus qualification may also be improved or relaxed depending on target mix of recruits. Recruits usually face difficult situations especially in physical requirements areas like eyesight and academic qualifications. Moreover, some police officers normally join as volunteers who may also change their qualification requirements. Another important factor in police training is that one should also have high school diploma but having post secondary education, will be taken as added advantage if it is a degree in social sciences like criminology or sociology. During the time of entry in police training facility, he or she must posses a clean driving license before handling a patrol car as argued by (Pope 1981). Some of the merits and demerits that are connected with police training suggest that, it is advantageous to police officer to have a sense of good in saving others who may involve in an accident, officers are capable of meeting dissimilar kinds of humans, and have a range of everyday jobs. The disadvantages of the training are: officers have the greatest probability of getting injury during work; working 24 hours per day might cause boredom; working during public holidays, weekends, and nights are stressful; moving around the country especially for the one whose perception is not well associated with the work, and working long hours especially during an emergency as well as the requirements of entry like post secondary education or higher grades may also interfere with others’ perception. Field Training officers Field training officer is a senior member of an organization who is capable of conducting assessment and training of the recruits. For the field training officers to qualify for the post, they must receive specialized induction training and certification. Their tasks are to train the recruits until they become capable of working on their own according to the assignment. The period of field training for the police officers typically lasts between 12 and 18 weeks, in some occasions the field trainees may operate for a short time before attending an official training or program of certification (Dempsey & Forst 2011). However, during this period the trainer may complete majority or some parts of the program and then later complete the remaining part upon completion of official recognition process. The duties and responsibilities of the field training officers is entirely based on communication of the anticipations if the trainee, being role model, apply correctly the concepts learned in the classroom into the training operations in the field, educating the trainee the rules and regulations of the department, and manage the shift duties completely and properly. For example, (Dempsey & Forst 2011) continued to illustrate that in the academy of criminal justice in South Carolina, the officer recruited joins the program of field training, which is further divided into five phases and covers 9 weeks. The stages slowly enable the conscripts to emerge from the initial stage where the recruit is primarily observing the trainers. While in the final stage, the field training officer will put on civilian clothes so that he can not be identified by the general public as the trainee acts as a single unit. As Dempsey & Forst continued with their research, they pointed out that every team of patrol has strictly two field training officers assigned to it and one field training officer in the division of traffic, investigation division and the school resource division. To identify the field training officers, the rank insignias on their sleeves are noted (2011). Usual rank insignias are a sequence of upward pointing stripes. The stripes are always accompanied by a rocker of a rounded button with a diamond lying between rocker and stripe. This authorizes the officers to be one of the field training officer departments. Tactical and training facilities During the training of police, the following are the necessary tools that should be used during and after training. The equipments includes clothing and apparel which include the uniform they wear while on work, fire fighter accessories, footwear, belts, badges and IDs, traffic safety, knives, watches, drug testing devices, eyewear, tactical and riot gear, first AID kit, body armor, and gloves as well as gun cleaning kit among others. Patrol or military vehicles are also used. They also use different languages and colloquial speeches so that no body could be able to recognize or identify anything (Kitaeff, 2011). Challenges of police training As long as officers avoid work responsibilities, the next issue becomes a difficult matter to handle. According to Kitaeff, administrative responsibilities of commission, or deliberate misconduct, starts with breaking small rules and regulations that appears unimportant (2011). This misbehavior can be identified into various ways. Obtaining unauthorized weapon or equipments, taking unnecessary drugs while on duty, not reporting firing warning shots and accidents, and performing romantic interludes on duty. For many officers connecting in ethical violations, the only risks are departmental procedure and policy. Conclusion Police training is course intended to improve the skills and the knowledge of the new recruits and uniformed police officers. Police officers are trained to detect and prevent crime, arrest offenders, maintain law and order in the society. In addition, they are discharged with the special tasks like surveillance, VIP protection, child protection, and counter terrorism. They are also offered training about how to perform investigation on major crimes such as rape, drug trafficking, murder, and fraud cases. Field training officer is a senior member of an organization who is capable of conducting evaluation and training of the recruits. The period of field training for the police officers typically lasts between 12 and 18 weeks, in some occasions the field trainees may operate for a short time before attending an official training or program of certification. During training the tools that are used include fire fighter accessories, footwear, belts, badges and IDs, traffic safety, knives, watches, drug testing devices, eyewear, tactical and riot gear, first AID kit, body armor, and gloves as well as gun cleaning kit among others. Patrol or military vehicles are also used. Administrative responsibilities of commission, or deliberate misconduct, starts with breaking small rules and regulations that appears unimportant. References Dempsey J. S & Forst L, (2011). An Introduction to Policing London: Cengage Learning press Johnson B.R. (2007). Crucial Elements of Police Firearms Training. Looseleaf Law Publications press Kitaeff J (2011). Handbook of Police Psychology New York: Taylor & Francis press. Pope D.W (1981). Modern policing. New York: Taylor & Francis press. Read More