As an active law enforcement officer, patrol supervisor, and departmental instructor for the last decade, I have seen many trends in law enforcement come and go. The most dangerous trend I have witnessed lately is the amount of training conducted by America’s police departments. A decline in training is not only dangerous for police officers, but it is dangerous for the communities that we serve. Police officers that do not receive adequate training can make detrimental mistakes. These mistakes often have devastating consequences, if any, to the officer and the community they serve. This decline can be attributed to budget constraints, lack of departmental standards, and disconnected administration.
As a departmental instructor, I have observed through the years that police departments do not give their officers the tools they need to succeed. This is often due to budget constraints. Instructors across the nation are always met with the question of, “How much will this cost?”. According to McBride (2014), “The quality of police training efforts …show more content…
Police departments must have high standards when it comes to their training program. Policies need to be in place to ensure that each officer receives proper and updated training to fit their daily duties. Without these policies and practices the Supreme Court says that they can be held liable. According to McNamara (2006), “Not only does it increase their chances for winning confrontations, the lack of such puts the department at risk of being held liable, according to guidelines set in the 1989 US Supreme Court ruling, City of Canton, Ohio v. Geraldine Harris” (p. 1). If a department does not train its officers adequately then they can be held civilly liable for failure to train. Not only can it be dangerous to the community and its officers but it can be dangerous, civilly, for police
As a departmental instructor, I have observed through the years that police departments do not give their officers the tools they need to succeed. This is often due to budget constraints. Instructors across the nation are always met with the question of, “How much will this cost?”. According to McBride (2014), “The quality of police training efforts …show more content…
Police departments must have high standards when it comes to their training program. Policies need to be in place to ensure that each officer receives proper and updated training to fit their daily duties. Without these policies and practices the Supreme Court says that they can be held liable. According to McNamara (2006), “Not only does it increase their chances for winning confrontations, the lack of such puts the department at risk of being held liable, according to guidelines set in the 1989 US Supreme Court ruling, City of Canton, Ohio v. Geraldine Harris” (p. 1). If a department does not train its officers adequately then they can be held civilly liable for failure to train. Not only can it be dangerous to the community and its officers but it can be dangerous, civilly, for police