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UMass Dartmouth Police Officers 10 Week Field Training

The UMass Dartmouth Police Department Field Training and Evaluation Program is a 10 week training program designed with objective evaluations to insure that the standards of a competent solo beat officer are met. 

Historically in police field training, the most common occurrence was the assignment of a recruit to a veteran police officer who was not necessarily qualified to be a trainer or evaluator.  The inherent problem was an officer’s natural reluctance to negatively evaluate a brother officer.  A good part of this resistance was based on the training officer identifying with the recruit rather than with the department’s goals and objectives.  Further complicating the situation was the department’s reluctance to “go along with” a training officer’s recommendation in those rare instances when he or she felt termination of employment was in order.  This set of circumstances has resulted in various agencies operating with some personnel who were not qualified to be police officers.  We have addressed these issues by creating a lesson plan for new Field Training Officers (FTO's), which clearly outlines their training expectations and responsibilities.   Additionally, the department carefully selects officers they feel are motivated  to train and have the skills to train and evaluate effectively. During the training period, FTO's must convey the importance of the  individual commitment to community policing to new officers and lead by example throughout the training period.   

The integration of teaching and evaluation, coupled with a standardization of the Field Training Officer’s duties and responsibilities, has the net result of placing accountability for recruit performance in the hands of the Field Training Officer.   The implementation of the UMass Dartmouth Police Field Training and Evaluation Program has resulted in the development of a more qualified police department serving the UMass Dartmouth community.