PTO, FTO, or Hybrid Model

PTO, FTO, or Hybrid Model

PTO, FTO, or Apple Sauce – Reconsidering the Hybrid Training Model

Written by: Lt Jessie Browning (Retired, Louisville Metro Police Dept)

An invitation to present at the annual Southeastern Field Training Officer Association (SEFTOA) conference had me dipping my toe back into the Police Training Officer pool, and – forgive the metaphor – sent me swimming in a new direction. As a PTO consultant, I never tried to convince department leaders to change from FTO to PTO but did dissuade them from implementing hybrid models. I believed most hybrids resulted from timid coordinators who shied away from the parts of PTO they considered TFC (touchy-feely crap) before they fully understood the benefits of those components. This, undoubtedly, was because I wanted to make a hybrid at my agency for that very reason. I now believe hybrid training models are not only doable, but when created and implemented in the right environment, some homegrown programs can be more effective than either PTO or FTO alone.

After 15 years on patrol, 2005 found me accepting a position as the FTEP Coordinator for my department. We switched programs six months later, throwing me into the role of PTO program designer, implementer, coordinator, instructor, and overall cheerleader. I was fortunate to be trained by two of the original PTO program creators and mentored by some of the best police leaders I ever met. We assembled a small but phenomenal team to facilitate a successful transition. Before I knew it, other agencies were calling for implementation guidance and a small training company was born.

The truth is, I did not like PTO at first. In fact, I spent the first week of my PTO training course justifying why the program would not work for us. “Trust me,” I told the Major, “we need to get rid of journaling and keep DORs.” I really thought I was onto something new here. His response was ego-checking: “So in four days you’ve come up with a better program than the one created by national police experts? Has your model been vetted? Are you prepared to legally defend it when we are sued for wrongful termination?” Of course not. So back to training I went and never had the desire to explore hybrids again. Until now.

I believe both the PTO and the FTO program can yield exceptional officers. I also believe there is a time and a place for either option to be most effective. The Police Training Officer (PTO) program began in 1999, when the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) funded a grant to a group of police leaders, researchers, and practioners to create a post-academy police training model based on community policing concepts. Every training activity, form, and evaluation supports and measures job behaviors identified by your agency with a connection to the philosophy of community policing and through adult learning strategies. There is a shift in responsibility with this program, calling for the trainee to be intensely accountable for what they learn as demonstrated though exercises and job performance. The optimal training environment will have both the trainer and the trainee understand and openly discuss emotional intelligence (EI/EQ) – which is also crucial for a successful police career – so PTO courses are steeped in EI training.

Most Field Training Officer (FTO) programs originated from the San Jose model which resulted from an emphatic need for training and performance accountability in the early 1970s. This model is typically focused on documentation of the trainee’s performance in about thirty job behaviors, and might include community oriented tasks. The model uses Daily Observation Reports (DORs), as well as Weekly and End of Phase Reports completed by the trainer who rates the trainee’s knowledge, skills and abilities on patrol. Many FTO courses also teach adult learning strategies and emotional intelligence as they relate to training and evaluating new officers and in the furtherance of successful careers.

Both programs are valuable. Every component of each program was designed to support the other components respectively. But can they be mixed together to create an effective hybrid model?

The pieces of the PTO program work together like a recipe for baking a cake. Professional bakers carefully crafted the recipe, calling for certain ingredients added at just right the time so they bake together for the desired cake. If the recipe calls for eggs, and you take out the eggs, it’s not going to taste like the cake you wanted. It will look like a cake, smell like a cake, but something will definitely be off.  I borrowed this analogy from my friend and mentor, retired Chief of Police Ed Brodt, and have often used it with PTO coordinators after they removed or redefined program components, then questioned why it is not “working” for them. The original recipe of the PTO program was designed to have all the ingredients interact for a synergistic effect.

I also gave the same analogy when asked about adding components of the PTO program into an agency’s FTO model. But after talking to several FTO program leaders at the SEFTOA conference, I am considering a sequel to the cake analogy. What if, instead of eggs, you add applesauce – and you like the cake better? I think this is very possible with the FTO model.

Here’s the thing. The PTO program works best when agencies subscribe to a true community policing philosophy. What is that? The COPS Office definition has always included development and sustainment in the following areas for the purposes of crime prevention, reduction, and control:

• Organizational Transformation
• Problem Solving
• Community Partnerships

These are not mere words nor policies left for a select few to follow. For a department to be truly aligned with this definition, they allow the philosophy to guide every day policing. If an agency is not committed to this mission, the foundation for the PTO program will crumble. Some PTO components then become abstract theories, ultimately changed so they match the department’s true practices, or removed completely because they were never really relevant to their officers. For example, agencies might throw out journals and replace them with DORs, swap Coaching and Training Reports for WORs, or turn the Neighborhood Portfolio Exercises into a product for trainees to update rather than an exercise to learn about their community. Other modifications can occur when coordinators lack the development or support to sustain the program, such as maintaining an outdated Matrix, avoiding Learning Activity Packages, and turning Problem Based Learning Exercises into pass/fail scenarios. Any of this situations interrupt the intended synergy of the PTO program as a whole.

Misfires also happen when agencies implement the PTO program as a catalyst for their organizational transformation – hoping new recruits will latch onto these strategies and breed community policing department wide. But recruits rarely respond to the “do as I say and not as I do” rule, especially with conflicting missions. For successful implementation, an agency should be well on their way to embracing the COP philosophy; supported by their policies and evident in their operations.  Absent this foundation, the program is more likely to diminish little by little until the department goes back to the FTO program.

When they return to FTO, the same pitfalls may exist as before. FTO models can provide solid evaluative components to document a trainee’s performance, but only if the methods are implemented and managed appropriately. For example, if an agency does not base the Standardized Evaluation Guidelines on written procedures etched by current law, the legal protection sought from these evaluations is negated. Chief’s struggle to terminate nonresponsive trainees because of inconsistent ratings, which are their sole source of verifiable reference. FTOs become frustrated and burnt out from redundant reports and feel unsupported in their recommendations. And police leaders expect more field training related to community policing than shown by simple check marks on evaluations.

How can an agency improve their FTO program if they are not fully prepared to move to the PTO program? Applesauce instead of eggs.

Prior to transitioning to the PTO model, I suggest agency leaders and program coordinators attend a full PTO course for the purpose of evaluating their agency’s community policing foundation through the lens of the program’s components. This analysis may lead to additional organizational changes to support the PTO program, or it may reveal the PTO program is not a good fit for you. Good PTO training will give you these answers. If you determine the program as a whole is not right for your agency, you will now be in a better position to modify your FTO program with community policing training components which have been in place for over two decades.

I would like to stress I am not advocating PTO, FTO, nor a hybrid model. I am not an expert in your department, so I will stick to what I know based on experience, consultations, and conversations. If you are inclined to tweak your training recipe, may I suggest the following:

Know all the rules of the game before you modify the play.  Know how both programs function as they were originally designed. Do not eliminate or change a component of either program without fully understanding its purpose and how that omission or change impacts other components in the program.

Do not change anything to make anyone more comfortable. Learning happens outside the comfort zone. Training should be challenging for everyone. Don’t fall for excuses.

Seek legal advice. Maybe the Chief isn’t worried about it. Will that be the same answer from the Mayor if a group of young officers are in a high-profile incident? The FTO and PTO programs have been tested in trials and scrutinized by legal experts. Vet your homegrown program with your legal experts, HR executives, EEOC experts, etc. to test its defensibility against internal and external litigations.

Build a sustainable program. Will the changes outlast the person making the suggestion? Changes to your program should be rare. Today’s trainees are the tomorrow’s trainers.

Be strategic. Build a program to address confirmed needs in your agency. Evaluate whether or not the components are addressing those needs. Hold people accountable to the program you have in place before you make modifications. New forms or projects may not be the right answer.

Network. Someone else has tried your recipe before. I promise.

I am grateful to be a part of SEFTOA and look forward to learning more new answers to old questions at next year’s conference. Who knows, maybe a little applesauce cake will be on the menu.

Jessie is also a board member of SEFTOA. If you’d like to learn more, just tap this link!

Be a great cop – do this!

WRITTEN BY: Captain Mike Schentrup (RET)

Let’s face it, 99% of our job is talking to people, whether its community contacts, victims or witness to a crime, confidential courses, and of course suspects.  Obviously, the better we can communicate, the better a cop we can become.  Its that simple.  You want to be great, learn to a great communicator.

I recently retired after 25 years at my department, most of those years spent in investigative units. I’ve conducted thousands of interviews and interrogations over those years. I’ve attended probably a dozen interview courses myself and I have taught several thousand cops how to conduct successful interrogations. 

Having said that, I always knew the secret of how to successfully interrogate. I understood that empathy is the “secret sauce” when it comes to being a great interrogator. The suspect had to believe that I was not judging them and they had to think that I understood what they were going through. Sometimes justifications were given to the suspect to allow them to say to themselves, “This detective gets it; he understands me.”

What I didn’t realize until later that empathy is the “secret sauce” in being a great communicator, period. And as I stated, if 99% of our job is communicating with others, than being great at it is pretty important.

Here’s a couple things you can start doing immediately to improve your empathy.

• Start any communication with a victim, witness, and even a suspect with a empathetic statement, such as “I am sorry you are going through this” or maybe for the victim of a violent crime, “I am so sorry this happened to you and I want you to know you are safe now.”  Yes, you should even use these with suspects!  Empathetic statements instantly create a small connection and can open up the lines of communication.
• Assume when someone is being short or discourteous to you, that they are experiencing a very bad day. The fact is we don’t know; they may have just left the hospital where their mom is on the ventilator. Or they about to evicted from their only place to live.  Let’s just everyone the benefit of the doubt. (BONUS:  It’ll make you a happier person overall!)
• Let them talk.  Great communicators are great listeners. Now this is the hardest thing, especially for me.  And it can be tough for our understaffed patrol divisions, who are going call-to-call.  But when interviewing victims, witnesses, or suspects, take your time and let them talk.
• Ask lots of open-ended questions.  Use phrases like, “tell me more about that” or “explain that more to me” to get more information. My buddy Jon Rappa call these “compellers” and I love the term. 

It’s not rocket science that people are going to want talk more with those they have a connection with. And in our job, we have to communicate with those who don’t trust the police or victims who maybe even reluctant to report their attack (i.e., victim of intimate partner violence).

If you want to be a great cop or if you’re the boss and you want a department of great cops, teach them these few tricks.  Send them to some good interview schools. There are some people who are innately empathetic, but for the rest of us, like me, we can learn.

Seven Reasons Officers Fail the FTO Program

WRITTEN BY: Lt. Wayne South (RET)

Field Training Officers serve as gatekeepers to your agency and the law enforcement profession.  They have a profound effect on their trainees and directly influence their success.  Trainees will report to training with varied degrees of experience, confidence, and knowledge.  Most new officers will be successful in the FTO program; however, there are a few that will not successfully complete the program.  The reasons vary and below is a short list (not inclusive) of reasons I have seen officers fail the FTO program.  Understanding these reasons will help your FTO’s prepare to overcome them.

1. Report Writing

Report writing deficiencies are the toughest to correct.  There is a lot of material to cover during a typical FTO program with most varying in length from 10 to 16 plus weeks.  Simple mistakes can be corrected, but the basics taught in high school and/or college cannot be taught during a typical FTO program.  

Most officers do not realize the impact a well, or poorly, written incident report can have. A well written report establishes your reputation as a professional, who conducts thorough investigations, and can convey the results of the investigation in that report.  Conversely a poorly written report causes issues with your trainer, criminal cases are dismissed or pled to a lesser charge, and ultimately can lead to the trainee’s termination from the program.

• Human Interaction

In today’s technologically driven society, most of your new officers will excel with technology but may struggle with face-to-face interaction.   This is a skill that may take some time for an FTO to develop in their trainee.  Technology is an excellent tool, but it does not allow for an officer to read body language, listen for tone in someone’s voice, or resolve conflict.  An officer who cannot interact with another person face-to-face will not be able to conduct thorough investigations, resolve conflict, or establish relationships/rapport.

• Fear

Fear is a natural emotion that all new officers will experience in the training program and especially when responding to a high-risk call or confronted with a hostile individual. Fear surfaces in two forms; one, anxiety or the fear of failure and two, the fear of being injured.  How the officer controls their fear and performs while experiencing fear will make the difference between success or failing out of the FTO program.

Anxiety is natural and can be overcome.  The trainer should seek to pinpoint the source of anxiety and refocus their training efforts.  The trainer should ask and answer the “what if” questions and ask them to visualize success.  

A trainee who is afraid of being injured may hesitate to engage or not engage at all.  Although not impossible, it is going to be very tough for the trainee to overcome.  This fear may dimmish after their first physical confrontation. 

 FTO’s should seek out the “hot” calls to allow the recruit to improve their performance level while experiencing fear. Careful guidance by the FTO through this adaptive process ensures that officer safety is maintained, and the recruit can make sound decisions while under great stress.

• Agency Selection of FTO’s

Good FTO’s should be results driven, professional, ethical, fair, motivated, and excellent communicators.  Bottom line is this, being a field training officer is a lot of work if you do it right. FTO’s should also have proven themselves at the agency for three to five years prior to selection. Normally this time frame provides enough information for an agency to evaluate their decision-making skills, attitude, and any disciplinary issues.  Agencies should invest a lot of time, training, and money into their FTO’s or else you have the untrained training the untrained. Failure to do so could result in an FTO recommending remedial, or termination, from the training program because of their own lack of job experience and training.

• Lack of Creative Thinking

An FTO’s job is to train, educate, and guide a new officer through the FTO program.  It is also the FTO’s job to let them “struggle” on a call if officer safety is not an issue. This motivates the trainee, allows the trainee to problem solve, which improves their performance level as well as   their decision-making skills and confidence.       

• Lack of Confidence

FTO’s should identify those areas in which the trainee is not confident.  Once these areas are identified, talk to the trainee about them and then create a plan for improvement.  If they are timid when talking to someone who is intoxicated and belligerent, it could be a lack of confidence in their defensive tactic’s skills.  Take them to the mat room to build confidence and skill.

Role play scenarios can help a trainee build confidence in making decisions and use of force.  If your agency has a video simulator, use it.  Scenario training should always be positive and build on their strengths while improving their weaknesses.

• Poor Decision Making

Many times, this is a trainee’s lack of knowledge of department policies, state laws, and ordinances.   This should improve with time and training, and it is incumbent on the FTO to ensure they have a good knowledge base.   The FTO should constantly quiz the trainee on these topics.  The key is that the FTO stay on top of this daily and document improvement.

 Most officers make more decisions in one day than most people make in a week.  Some decisions will have a tremendous impact on someone’s life and officers must be able to decide, live with their decision, and have the confidence (knowledge) to know it was the right decision.

This is a short list of my observations over the years.  I am sure you can add many more.  I believe that if your FTO’s train professional, knowledgeable, and ethical officers then they are laying the groundwork for your future FTO’s.

For more great insights, check out the Southeastern Field Training Officers Association (SEFTOA).

Top Five Leadership Principles Every FTO Should Know

WRITTEN BY: Lt. Wayne South (RET)

Field Training Officer’s (FTO) have a tremendous impact on new officers which starts during their first interaction.   This interaction between trainer and trainee sets the stage for the culture of the organization and creates “buy-in” to the organization from the trainee.  But how much training as an agency is provided to our FTO’s prior to leading a new officer to success? I am not talking about training on hard skills such as driving, firearms, or defensive tactics, what I am talking about is leadership training and those soft skills that make FTO’s, and their trainees, successful. Although there are numerous leadership principles, there are five I think all FTO’s should know.

1. Leadership is not about me

Leadership is about people and the ability to influence behavior to achieve personal and organizational goals.   The ability of the FTO to effectively communicate and engage the trainee in the learning process is essential.  The inability to communicate with a trainee only leads to frustration, mistakes, and the failure of a new officer.   I think what a lot of FTO’s fail to realize is that training takes teamwork.   The old style of training where the training officer did not talk to the trainee did not work then and it does not work now. 

Leadership is all about influencing human behavior to achieve personal and organizational goals. FTO’s should constantly work on improving relationships with those they work with, their interpersonal skills, and how they can improve at FTO’s.

• Honesty

An FTO is a role model for a new officer.  The FTO must always be honest above reproach and have those difficult discussions with their trainees when performance is not acceptable. The same honesty we employ in our personal lives should also reflect in our profession.  A leader’s communication, oral or written, must always be honest, forthright, and avoid minimizing or exaggerating the topic at hand. 

Honesty is courage.  The courage to respectfully voice your opinion to a person of a higher rank and be very direct when needed.   Honestly is essential in any healthy training program and building trust.

• Listen

Active listeners should listen more than they talk.  If you slow down and truly listen to what someone is saying it is amazing what we can learn.  Most of us listen with the intent to reply.  By learning to listen, pause and formulate a reply, then speaking, we not only learn the intellectual intent of the message but the emotional side of the message.  A good leader should strive to understand both.

• As a leader we need to be human

We make mistakes.  Rank, whether positional or referent, does not make us perfect.  A good leader, and a good FTO, uses these mistakes as learning opportunities. Leaders who are honest about their shortfalls start earning the respect of those they work around. 

I was a field training officer for a long time.  I sought to learn from each trainee.  We all want to be the best training officers and leaders we can be, but sometimes the trainee will know more about a topic than we do.  Learn from it….

• Never stop improving yourself

A good leader never stops the learning process.  Always seek out information which will improve our ability to better influence behavior (i.e., leadership).  To improve ourselves professionally we should know the departments mission statement and organizational goals. Personally, and professionally, we can improve ourselves by reading, listen to podcasts, take classes, attend leadership training. 

Leadership is a lot of work if you want to do it right.  Most of us are not born leaders, however with just a little effort you will start seeing results and being more confident in your role. 

For more great insights, check out the Southeastern Field Training Officers Association (SEFTOA).

The 3 most common defense strategies

WRITTEN BY : Captain Mike Schentrup (RET)

I think defense attorneys all go to the same school or follow the same Facebook page.  I say this because when it comes to defense strategies during a criminal trial, it usually boils down to the same three.  Now they use these three because they are somewhat effective, but usually they use them because their client is guilty, and we (cops) give them tons of examples to use during trial.  Now let’s take a look at them.

Normally, the defense uses one, two, or all three of these following strategies.

1. The cops didn’t follow protocol or were flat out sloppy in their investigation.  This is an easy one for most defense teams because we sometimes take shortcuts.  Not shortcuts in an illegal or immoral way, but we’re busy and we just make things a little simpler for ourselves.  One of the main examples of this is not writing case supplements or not ensuring everyone in the chain of custody of evidence is properly documented.  Things like this are just fodder for the defense.  During their closing arguments, the defense attorney may say something like, “These examples of sloppy police work are just the ones we were able to uncover; we’re not even sure how many more mistakes the police made during this so-called investigation.”
2. The police lied to cover up their sloppy investigation or worse to frame my client.  If you’ve sat in on closing arguments from a defense attorney, then you’ve heard them call you a liar.  Some attorney’s more brazen than others.  Usually, the lie is about how you conducted or documented your investigation.  An example might be you interviewed a crucial witness but forgot to write it in your report. I’ve done this and it was an honest mistake, but how does this look to a jury.  And how can the defense spin this to the jury.  “So detective, you want the jury to believe you had this vital conversation with the witness, but you never documented it?”
3. The cops focused solely on my client from the start.  This is a very common defense strategy and for good reason. We normally have a pretty good suspect early on in our investigations; however, this is a danger too.  We must show our investigations are impartial and we looked at all evidence; even evidence that showed our suspect may not be guilty (i.e. an alibi).

No one used these defense strategies better than OJ Simpson’s legal dream team during his trail for double murder in the early 1990’s.  They were remarkable and were able to get OJ acquitted even though there was overwhelming evidence of his guilt.

Now that you know the strategies, be careful not to feed into them. Be thorough in your investigation and write great investigative police reports.  Document as much as you can on audio and video and keep your chain of custody for evidence really tight.

If you want to learn more, I talk about all of these and go more in-depth in each in my webinar, Homicide Mistake and Pitfalls; How to Avoid Them.

5 Types of Difficult Trainees and Tips on Effective Training

WRITTEN BY: Captain Robert Fanelli

One of the most important skills a trainer can have is the ability to adjust and adapt the training environment to the trainee. I will always argue that our goal as trainers is to provide the “best chance” for success to our trainees by giving the best training experience possible. In my years of training I have found that there are some categories of what we will call “difficult trainees”. So what are they and how do we adjust our training for success:

• The Know-It-All Trainee– They seem confident and knowledgeable however they are tough to train because they think they have all the answers already. The trouble with this trainee is that they have an attitude of arrogance which puts up roadblocks to learning.
  • It is important that you allow this trainee to experience failure and capitalize on mistakes as learning opportunities. Focus on their decision making process and go beyond the actual decision asking them often, “Why did you decide to do that?” 

• The Unconfident Trainee– In police work this type of trainee makes up for their lack of confidence by being rude or overly aggressive.
  • This requires a focus on empathy based training and ethics. This requires a major attitude adjustment and needs to be addressed immediately.

• The Distracted Trainee– This type of trainee brings their home-life troubles to the job. A resulting symptom becomes difficulty communicating and concentrating that results in a Failure to Respond to Training issue.
  • Goal-setting is a critical task when responding to this type of trainee. Establish clear, simple, and achievable goals to help this type of training see their accomplishments, become goal oriented and improve their focus.

• The Processor– This type of trainee internalizes the learning process and shows signs of “slow learning”. Their “slow learning” is not because they are unintelligent, distracted, or uncaring but it is quite the opposite. Their “slow learning” is because they are thinking through each concept taught and are being intentional in their learning of new ideas and concepts.
  • You have to be patient with this type of trainee because they often become very good employees.  Focus on the structure of training and expose them to different types of teaching techniques hitting on cognitive and sensory forms of learning styles.

• The One Task Trainee– This type of training is overwhelmed by multi-tasking. In law enforcement this may result in officer safety issues simply because they can’t focus on investigating and maintaining tactical advantages at the same time.
  • This type of trainee should be exposed to scenario based training. Scenarios should be structured with singular goals in mind and conducted in a step-by-step approach. Focus on one element of the scenario at a time before moving to the next step.

Seek to understand the root of your trainee’s problems and work to adjust training- this is the mark of an excellent trainer. I hope this article adds to your trainer playbook. If you have other experiences, thoughts and training hacks please share!

For more great insights, check out the Southeastern Field Training Officers Association (SEFTOA).

5 tips to improve your report writing

WRITTEN BY: Captain Robert Fanelli

As a supervisor in both patrol and detectives, as well as, an instructor of report writing, I have had the opportunity to read and discuss ways to improve thousands of police reports. Over the years I have seen the same opportunities for improved report writing. Realize, if you are looking to improve your report writing, the first step is to identify two or three weaknesses you can focus on and work to improve upon them. Improving is a progression, not a single moment. Work on the weaknesses you have identified then once you feel good about the progress, identify other ways to get better. Here are the top five tips for improving your reports.

1. The basics:  Spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are boring and may seem like a small thing, but a report riddled with mistakes simply reduces your credibility in the eyes of those that read the report. It also makes the report difficult to read. The most common mistakes that you can do a simple web search on and start mastering are: When to use a new paragraph, verb tense, passive versus active voice, run-on sentences, and wordiness. Reports should be in active voice, first person, categorical and chronological, and succinct. When structuring your sentence KEEP IT SIMPLE!

• Avoid police jargon: This comes down to knowing who the audience of a police report is. So, who is the audience? Well, the list is extensive: supervisors, detectives, advocates, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, media, community…the list goes on. Think about your report as a form of communication to a wide array of audience members. Pay attention to and leave out words and phrases that are unique to your agency and the profession.

• Details, Details, Details:  Have you ever viewed your report in the eyes of an attorney? Do you write your report with enough detail and explanation to move past probable cause and see down the road to successful prosecution? Your report should provide enough detail that a mental picture can be formed in the mind of the reader. If you make a declarative observation, follow it up with detail. For example, the statement, “The suspect’s actions caused me concern for lives and property in the area.” This should be followed up with a description of what those actions were, “The suspect avoided using sidewalks and kept to dark areas…as vehicles approached the suspect hid in the shadows or concealed himself in vegetation…the suspect was wearing dark clothing”. You get the picture.

• Describe Modus Operandi:  Modus Operandi or MO simply put is criminal habits. People are creatures of habit and habitual behaviors show up in criminals. For example, burglars who kick in doors, don’t crawl through windows and robbers who point a gun at the clerk, use profanity, and threaten to shoot, don’t ask politely for the money on the next robbery. Generally speaking, criminals may adjust their behavior if they feel like something isn’t working, but once they feel comfortable, they will stick to a routine. You should be working to describe that “routine” with enough detail to link cases. Answer things like MOT (mode of travel), clothing, POE (point of entry), POX (point of exit), weapon, behavior, location, objects of theft and things that are unique to habitual behavior.

• Get good at victim and witness interviews: Most police reports begin with a victim or witness interview. Simply put, we need to get statements to establish a crime.  Without a doubt, understanding trauma and memory will help you improve upon your interview skills. Stop looking at your interviews as a checklist of information you need to gather and start looking at them as a way to work collaboratively and cooperatively to elicit the best recollection from victims and witnesses. Structure your interviews to allow victims and witnesses to focus on what they are able to remember. If you work to elicit accurate detailed information and view an interview as a process, not an event, you will get more detail. This will result in a better investigation and that will lead to a better report. 

Captain Rob Fanelli is currently an operations commander at the Gainesville Police Department. Prior to his promotion to captain, he was the Criminal Investigations Division Commander. He has 18 years of law enforcement experience with a diverse career. He has supervised and worked in Robbery/Homicide, Sexual Assault, ICAC, Domestic Violence, and the Forensic Units. He is an IACP and RTI consultant and is currently a Johns Hopkins Fellow in the School of Public Health.

JOYFUL COMMAND

WRITTEN BY: Captain Mike Schentrup (RET)

Originally published in American Police Beat in 2019

In the last decade, much has been written about positive leadership and how joyful, optimistic leaders are more successful with their teams; but how does this look in the day-to-day routine operations of a police department?  How can Lieutenants, Captains, and Chiefs make their departments a place where everyone wants to come to work?  Can we make a police department a joyful place to work?  I believe the answer is yes. 

Being a cop is a tough, stressful job to begin with.  More so than ever, cops are under a microscope from the media and the public.  Departments across the country have staffing problems and overall morale is low.  Numerous surveys suggest that police officers get more stress from internal issues, than external.  Let’s put a real-life example to this:  most cops would rather respond to an active shooter than be called back to the station by their Lieutenant!  If you told this to a civilian, they would never believe it.

Let’s look at five easy area Command can effect immediately to drive up morale.

1.  Shift Briefings – most departments start their workday with a short shift briefing. I’ve known plenty of cops who would tell me this is the worst 20 minutes of their day. How is this possible?  I’ve heard it said that patrol officers feel most helpless and powerless the moment they walk into the briefing room. This is the time where another management directive will be cast upon them.  Shift briefings must be light and joyful. Information should be relayed and sometimes frank discussions should be had, but how can we send our front-line folks out to meet the public after the worst 20 minutes of their day?  This is low hanging fruit.  Work with your shift/watch commanders. Encourage positive shift briefings.  Limits “class spanks” (we’ll discuss these next).  Commend in public those who did well and talk to those privately after who need some coaching.  Debrief critical incidents constructively and let the team make their own observations. Normally they will hit all the good points along with the areas where improvement can come. Commanders are there to listen and move the conversation.
2. “Class-Spanks” – we’ve all been in the room, when the boss starts off with, “Hey, no big deal, but we’ve had a few complaints of cops speeding along Highway 40.  Please slow down.”  This is the quintessential class spank.  A wise sergeant gave me some great advice early on about class spanks; they don’t work.  Here’s why.  The ones you were trying to get the message to probably weren’t paying attention to begin with and the good officers who were paying attention now think the admonishment was meant for them. This goes for email class-spanks too.   Do we really think marginal employees read the emails that are not specifically directed at them?  Coaching and corrective action should always be one-on-one.   Command staff should NEVER conduct a class spank in briefing.  Leave these comments to your shift/watch commanders.  Again, is this easy; no, because class spanks are easy.  But creating a positive environment takes work on the part of Command.
3. Emails – there should be an entire book written about this, and if fact, I bet there is.  We already spoke about class-spanks should never be conducted by email.  I will concede email is effective at reaching a large audience, but who are you actually reaching?  Secondly, email is the definition of one-way communication. There is no inflection, no way to read sarcasm, and no way to ultimately convey a tough message.  Face-to-face is the best.  It allows true two-way communication (remember, 80% of communication is nonverbal).  I know this is not always possible, so a phone call is next best.
4. Knee-Jerk Reactions – there is nothing more demotivating for front-line officers than the perceived knee-jerk reaction.  We all know this.  “Johnny screwed up so the City Commission has mandated training for everyone.”  To the line personnel, there is usually no rhyme or reason to the change or they believe it is a knee jerk reaction to misguided public sentiment.  The IACP puts on a great training course called Leadership in Police Organizations.  One of the main points I took from it is that MOST, I mean almost all, decisions do not have to be made really fast. And, you will learn that any decision that is well thought out will be a better decision.  So please slow it down.  Think about how any decision will affect real people, both sworn and non-sworn.
5. Servant Leadership – finally to be a positive leader, one must be a servant leader. Leaders must serve the ones they lead.  This is not counterintuitive.  We are responsible for providing those we lead with the things they need.  Always take the time to listen to you team.  Listen to each one.  Sometimes they want to vent.  And your main job is to listen and maybe help them understand that sometimes there is a bigger picture.  Most of your folks just want to be heard.  Never ask them to do a job that you wouldn’t do yourself.  In fact, the more menial the task, the more important it is that your folks see you performing it.

Although I call these five things low-hanging-fruit, they are not easy.  They take time and effort, but you took the job of a leader and now you must live up to it.  Procedural Justice teaches us that employees who feel like they are treated well by their leaders are more likely to treat the public well. Maybe if we treat our line-officers better and they feel valued, they would pass this on to the community they serve?  Seems easy to me.

10 Trauma Informed Tips for Patrol Officers

Written by: Captain Mike Schentrup (RET)

1. Start with empathetic statement— “I’m sorry this happened to you.”
2. Start by believing – have a “believe first then investigate mentality”
3. Communicate to the victim that they are safe.
4. Never ask WHY – these questions are by their nature judgmental and can be asked later.
5. No need to challenge the account – this can be done after an investigation is completed, if necessary.
6. Get basic facts, establish elements of crime, need for forensic and medical exam, crime scene, witnesses, suspects?
7. Don’t make contact with the suspect until CID has an investigative strategy – detectives may want to compete a controlled phone call with the suspect.
8. Get certified sexual assault program advocate involved right away!
9. Don’t write anything that can damage the investigation:  “inconsistent,” “withholding information,” “lied about …”
10. Never accept a complaint withdrawal or a prosecution refused form. It is too early for this.

These are 10 easy steps command staff can use to guide their patrol officers or deputies to a more trauma informed response.