Out of curiosity - training question

[txdpd]

Leadership.

Most of the actual police work being done is in spite of the leadership management that the officers work under. There will always be budget and manpower constraints to training, but departments with good leadership rarely have poorly trained officers out on the streets. Good leaders don't makes officers jump through hoops of fire to get good training, call it common sense or "vision" but they generally understand that bad things can happen on their watch, and the need to be prepared for the unknown.

[BehindBlueI's]

Case law and scene management. Especially among rookies. Being assertive in clearing a crime scene, separating witnesses, maintaining a perimeter, preserving evidence, etc.

Getting evidence is great, making case law about how you did it after the suppression is not. And it's a moving target. Case law evolves continuously. Just look at warrantless searches of cell phones. Not just a rookie problem, especially with technology "searches".

I think my dept does a great job on the firearms, use of force, scenario training, etc. We've got an *excellent* outdoor range facility and tac bays. If I were Chief for a Day (likely longer than my real tenure would be) I'd like to see more Simunition stuff with real pain feedback again, and a return of something like FATS. I'm sure technology has advanced and made whatever the new simulation bays even more betterer.

[BehindBlueI's]

Leadership.

Most of the actual police work being done is in spite of the leadership management that the officers work under.

I have to say my dept does attempt this. We've got a "leadership academy" were nationally recognized experts (Bill Westfall, for example) come and present. The reading material for the promotion process includes leadership books, etc. When officers are evaluated, they also anonymously evaluate their immediate supervisor. It's not perfect. It's a lot more than most places do, though.

[Kan S LaTrans]

I know that many departments have implemented, are trying to implement, and are developing Active Shooter Response plans. My former department had the budget, and it had the in-house expertise for the curriculum development...but as the wheels of justice move slowly, more slowly moves the wheels of progress in the larger departments because there are SO many levels of command that have to put their stamp of approval on it, and make sure they get their name on it (political hacks above the rank of lieutenant), while simultaneously covering their asses in case of program failure. So, implementation beyond the curriculum and theory phase (the book learning), and thus the implementation of the actual in-service FOF and UOF phase was slower than cold molasses.

So, actual boots on the ground, lead on target, training at the squad level is woefully inadequate in many departments at this time. Some don't even have clear ROE for the responding officer to act upon and they are "doing it live" or trying to learn new skills in the middle of the fight. There is too much ambiguity. You're first...you go in NOW. Trust that other badges will be hot on your heels.

Thank God a good number of officers have the intellectual agility and facility to apply what they already know to the dynamic incident and act...but honest to goodness live fire training that encourages action versus reaction, and immediate initiation of individual action is critical.

It would be great to see coordination between city and county agencies with overlapping patrol zones develop a standard response, rather than city officers being held up while county deputies go in, or vice versa. I know it is going on in some places, but the elimination of jurisdictional dick fights would be great.

[TGS]

So, actual boots on the ground, lead on target, training at the squad level is woefully inadequate in many departments at this time. Some don't even have clear ROE for the responding officer to act upon and they are "doing it live" or trying to learn new skills in the middle of the fight. There is too much ambiguity. You're first...you go in NOW. Trust that other badges will be hot on your heels.

ROE?

[WobblyPossum]

Everyone’s “ROE” should be pretty similar. Graham v. Connor and Tennessee v. Garner. The only differences come in if your specific agency has a UOF policy that’s even more restrictive than “objective reasonableness.”


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[HCM]

FWIW, our G19M T's are great. They function superbly well.

Simuntion ammo or Speer FOF ?

[TGS]

Simuntion ammo or Speer FOF ?

IIRC, UTM for man marking and Simunition for blanks.

The UTM blanks don't fit them.

I don't remember any Speer ammo, unless Speer manufactures UTM's ammo lines....

[BehindBlueI's]

I know that many departments have implemented, are trying to implement, and are developing Active Shooter Response plans. My former department had the budget, and it had the in-house expertise for the curriculum development...but as the wheels of justice move slowly, more slowly moves the wheels of progress in the larger departments because there are SO many levels of command that have to put their stamp of approval on it

We're got roughly 1650 sworn officers and have doing department-wide active shooter training for over a decade, maybe 15-20 years? Don't know exactly. As a recruit I went through scenarios at real schools after hours with hundred+ roll players, pyrotechnics, etc. After Pulse, we did a simulated night club. After Houston we did active shooter among protesters, (although this was only for Special Services in-service, as we'd be the ones dealing with protests/riots). I'd say I get FoF training modeled on real life events at least every other year. Those not on SWAT or special services get it at least every 3-4.

[HCM]

I'm not sure if you are looking for individual departments or LE as whole, but I'll answer for my PD.

We need realistic force-on-force training that covers the whole level spectrum of UOF. In my perfect world, each scenario would have the officer(s) in full sim protective gear with a sim version of each weapon - not just equipment based on what the scenario will need. The actors would follow the lesson plan/script and not make it up as they go. Some scenarios will end in a shooting, some will end in a fight, and some will end with compliance if the officers act reasonably. Building searches, traffic stops (all kinds), disorderly person calls, domestics, alarms, every type of call we respond to will be scenarios.

We started doing this at least 10 years ago [sim version of each weapon) and various outcomes to scenarios to avoid the “they gave me a sim gun so I’m gonna shoot someone. When I was teaching in-service for my agrncy academy I wrote a bunch of scenarios along these lines ranging from a super obvious shoot to one where you arrest a wanted subject without incident but learn he is sick and needs methadone. In another you have a mom with a felony warrant and minor kids. Stepdad is there but he is a registered sex offender. Pretty common stuff but the officers were so conditioned to “Sims = shoot” that they were missing simple stuff in scenarios with no use of force just because we gave them a sims gun and a helmet.