Professional Development and Training
The Virtual Police Department (VPD) only required a high school diploma or equivalent to be qualified police officer. The department does not care and even discouraged personnel not to go college. The VPD culture believed that experience was the best way to educate the police on the force. With most of the senior officers who achieved promotion based on merit and experience. With education at the VPD at a very low state of less then ten percent with two-year degrees, of which were achieved threw an agreement with the local community college based on their police training. Even with the push, for a bachelor degree requirement that was derailed because it would make the current commanders pool ineligible
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This has caused many political problems with both department operations and the communication with fellow law enforcement agencies that are needed for police agencies to correctly do their job. Even with the rumor that the police union has been allowed to selected the leadership at the discretion of the mayor. The organization and the management of the department subsections have been created based off of preferences of the commanders. This has cause the untrained first line supervisor to become more involved in decision-making, which has caused damage to the police image in the public eyes. There have been complaints internal and external with rule bending and violations that before would have been addressed by supervisor. This known as the “code of silence “ has change the VPD and broken the integrity entrusted to the police. With the untrained leaders in the VPD community policing which was once the core belief of the department has now been disregarded to a call-to-call policing agencies. The department no longer helps the community with traffic control, lock out and other functions. This is a direct result of lack of training and education within the …show more content…
The department has upheld this ideology since that time only hiring families and friends. This culture was promoted by the chief of police believing that this was the only way to ensure to keep all of the undesirables off the police force. This culture has been the leading cause to difficulties with scheduling, recruitment, retention and retirement of officers on the force. The organization has not planned retirement due to the cost vs. budget miscalculation. This problem of retiring officers and hiring more at a fast rate has cause the force a lot of money and time that could have been in training and development. The repeat of the cyclical out migration has also left the department with very little experience, which could have been avoided with proper personnel planning. The recruitment has also been effected by both history and culture due to the hiring process or lack of public announcements for job vacancies. This has also created diversity problems through out the department being that eighty percent of the sworn and non-sworn personnel are Caucasian. With the current diversity of the department it demonstrates that the police do not understand their current community they
The Thompson Valley Police Service is seeking to double the number of police recruits over the next three years. In an attempt to attract more applicants, the newly appointed Police Commissioner, Commissioner Jason DeVillain is proposing two key changes to the current selection process. Firstly, Commissioner DeVillain is proposing to eliminate the requirement for partial or completed tertiary education. Secondly, it is being proposed that psychological testing should be removed from the selection process. As a research and policy officer for the Thompson Valley Police Service, the validity and likely impact of the above two proposed changes will be investigated thoroughly, followed by recommendations to Commissioner DeVillain to ensure the selection process is as effective as possible in selecting the most suitable candidates for the new police recruits. The role of a general duties police officer is broad in nature and requires the officer to be efficient in many areas, ranging from administrative duties to conflict resolution and problem solving. In addition to the recording and logging of all jobs attended while on duty, the officer may be required to prepare documents for court hearings, where written communication skills will also be
...an also affect the integrity of a department. The book states that “if the police culture influences the level of police misconduct, it is important to change it” (Pollock 208) This culture can lead officers to believe that what others are doing is ok, and, that in turn, makes it okay for them to do it also. These views and actions can be changed by a change in supervision or by taking ethics classes.
“The LAPD struggled during the first dozen years of its existence, going through sixteen chiefs of police and developing an unsavory reputation for corruption and brutality.” (Escobar, 1999, p. 27) From the notorious “Bloody Christmas, to the infamous Rodney King scandal, the Los Angeles Police department has been at the forefront of unprofessionalism for the past few decades and has been deemed one of the most corrupt police departments in the country. Greed, race and politics played a role in the development of the LAPD. “To Protect and To Serve”, this is the motto of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD, 2014). Professionalism has changed throughout the decades within this police department. A majority of it has been designed around incidences
The influence of higher education on police officer habits would surprise many according to Matthew D. Bostrom, D.P.A of the Saint Paul Police Department in “Police Chief Magazine-The Professional Voice of Law Enforcement”. Although a degree is required for some agencies and considered ideal for any person looking to join the law enforcement field, surveys show otherwise says Bostrom. According to a study conducted in St. Paul, Minnesota there were more on-duty vehicle collisions by officers with formal education beyond high school than those who only obtained a high school diploma. The article also shows figures indicating more disciplinary actions towards officers with college degrees and a significant difference in those of officers with high school diplomas only. The measurements of work habits shown indicate that perhaps a college degree in general is not necessary to be an effective police officer. Traffic Officer James Dunn of the California Highway Patrol in an interview said, “a degree can be beneficial, but some people are very eloquent and knowledgeable even without attending college-a person can learn the specific duties of any job, but college does not teach you the responsibilities of being a police officer. You learn that by hands-on training”. Although a degree is helpful, Officer Dunn admits that he has been very successful in the law
The police selection process can be lengthy and expensive and there are two different methods to selecting applicants to go further with the selection process. One method for selecting is "weeding out," which turns over a much smaller cohort of candidates (Doerner, 2016). This method focuses on disqualifying candidates based on negative aspects or one failed part of the rigorous selection process. By disqualifying a candidate that fails one part of the many parts of the selection process, the department can reduce the number of candidates that make it to the more expensive tests of the process. This advantage of this selection process is that it can save money, helping the department in need of officers.
(Swanson, Territo and Taylor, p. 2). However, in recent years some major changes have occurred in a shorter time period. Innovations in law enforcement During the past two decades, I have observed major changes in the viewpoint of society towards police officer's as the symbol of trust and dignity, the technological advances of communication and information systems in law enforcement, and the revision of selection and hiring practices for police officers. Organizational change occurs both as a result of internal and external agents (Swanson, Territo and Taylor, p. 664).
Our society has become one that is very diverse. Law enforcement agencies (local, state, and federal) for our changing society need to include an increase representation of women and minorities, definite improvement in leadership skills, and to strengthen community policing. These are all issues of great importance, which are no longer going to be pushed aside.
The article Police and Higher Education: Where are We Now by Roy Roberg and Scott Bonn discuss and review past articles and ideas about whether or not police officers should be required to have earned a college degree in order to qualify a position in law enforcement within the United States. The first person who believed in the idea that police officers should be required to hold a college degree in order to be qualified for a position was August Vollmer. August Vollmer was “the father of American police professionalism” (Walker & Katz, 2011). Vollmer is best known for being a supporter of higher education within law enforcement. However, many officers and high ranking officials did not believe in the concept of needing to obtain a college degree in order to protect their community. A majority of police officers in law enforcement did not have a college degree nor did police departments require it to be considered a position. Moreover, many police departments did not necessitate a high school diploma but rather a general equivalency diploma. The first time that this idea was utilized was during the time of the 1960’s, when, in the early 1960’s, crime was increasing drastically and by the late 1960’s the ghetto riots took place, opening the eyes of those in charge that something needed to change, and change quickly in order to prevent criminal activity and chaos.
"Studies, Case Law, Quotes, Standards and Trends in Support of a College Education for Police Officers." Police Association for College Education (PACE). Web. 02 Mar. 2011..
This paper is an attempt to articulate the organizational change that is taking place within the Police Department and how the existing norms, culture, and organizational profile affect the desired change, as well as the resistance to change that might be affecting the change agent and the personnel affected by the change.
Recruiting officers is a vital job for any city, state, federal department. The people that are recruited could be the next leaders of the department. Most departments try to pull in the most diverse and qualified applicants that are looking to make law enforcement a career. They also look for applicants that have a commitment in severing their community. The recruiters have a bigger pull of people with the unemployment rate going up. There are more people going back to school to study criminal law and are looking for a career in law enforcement. The recruiters look for people that hold knowledge in law, communication skills, self- discipline, and attention to detail. The new recruit should want to stay learning new things by furthering their education in law enforcement. The recruiters must hold a high standard for hiring police officers because of what the community expects from their law enforcement. Most recruiters have to go by the department’s code of ethics that each department has set for their officers. This has made recruiters come up with new ways of trying to recruit officers. Some recruiters have started going after top students out of universities and other schools. Many Departments have come up with hiring incentives for new r...
The first step is to weed out the ones who just are not right to be a officer. The next step is to find the ones who fit the needs of the department. Medical and psychiatric testing, personal interview, and background information is used when identifying if a person is a good fit. There is research that has identified five personality characteristics that allows a police officer to excel in his or her job: extrovert, emotional stability, agreeable, conscientious, and open to experience. People also need to be aware of working in a high crime area. Even if the person has all five traits, but can’t handle the stress they may need to find another profession. There may be times new hires come from another department, but before hiring they need to talk to the previous employer. There may be certain reasons that the officer for hire is wanting to move to a different department. They could have been disciplined or terminated if they had not agreed to resign. This is not okay for the officers are not taking the consequences for their behavior.
All these incidents that the media have viewed about law enforcement has impacted recruiting and retention within law enforcement. Most people applying for law enforcement now can’t work in the field because of their medical history, but according to American Disabilities Act police departments can’t discriminate. More law enforcement officers are needed on the streets not behind desk. It takes about $150,000 per recruit to train. There is no one the money for training can be cut because you want good qualified officers.
As a military policeman my Army training continued but now included police specific topics. Lots of judo and hand-to-hand combat plus additional firearms training, pistol, rifle to machine gun and I was awarded the “high score” trophy during the .45 caliber pistol qualifications. As a policeman I was assigned to attend the POST academy course in education and training required by the State with some additional specific training required due to the social unrest that really ramped up while I was a civilian policeman. As you’ll see my training continued through my police department years, right up to the year I retired. Much of these training subjects were district specific in that they provided me with additional knowledge that assisted me in the different locations of my assignments; such as Desert Training and Snow Safety Awareness and just as important I was updated with changes in technology; such as Revolver conversion to Semi-Auto Pistol Training. In some areas I was an instructor for some of these subjects which I volunteered to do realizing that as a trained instructor I became more knowledgeable with the subject matter which greatly added to my own confidence as my career
...at exactly is the process known as police recruitment and just how different it was in the 1960s from today’s day and age. In the 1960s police departments were worried about not having enough minorities and now police departments worry about not having enough qualified officers in general. If police departments can better advertise how great it is to be a police officer and how bright the future could be for a hardworking officer I think that the retention issue among police departments will decrease dramatically and the amount of qualified applicants will sky rocket. All in all police recruitment is a huge part of law enforcement agencies and if it wasn’t for recruitment and the work that goes in to getting officers field ready who knows what kind of chaos could have come from having unfit officers patrolling the streets and keeping citizens safe on a daily basis.