This is a continuation of a series of articles regarding the different types of stressors that officers face daily, in their personal and professional lives from a personal point of view.
Is there stress in Police work? Part 4
After being “forced” out of a detail, I chose to enter the Field Training Program to train the new officers, fresh out of the academy.
I enjoyed the challenges of exposing the new officers to the rigors of police work. It was an eye-opening experience for most of the officers and it was my duty to make sure it was a safe learning (and mostly enjoyable) experience for the new person.
After some exposure to the various challenges inherent to law enforcement, some officers decided that police work was not for them and gracefully bowed out. Some handled some situations poorly, certainly not to the best of their abilities and training, and continued to struggle throughout their training period.
It became apparent that some were not ever going to be suited for police work and needed to find other avenues for employment.
I digress. I made sure the new officer was able to experience the full gamut of police work. Dead body calls, bank robberies, report calls, public contact, traffic stops, foot and vehicle pursuits (yes, at that time, we could chase bad guys). Everything from the most trivial of misdemeanor crimes to the most heinous felonies. It was always a learning experience, but I wanted it to be interesting and enjoyable, if possible, for the new officer.
I had trainees tell me and my supervisor that I was the best, or one of the best FTO’s (Field Training Officer) that they had, because they were able to experience a variety of calls, not just drunks sleeping on bus benches all day long, etc.
After about 7-8 years of Field Training, I noticed a “shift” in the program and some of the candidates that entered it.
Some new officer’s personalities were more defiant. A lot were more submissive and less apt to get involved in serious situations. When critique was given after each incident, excuses and rationalization became the norm. Blame was placed on everything/everyone other than the new officer. If the defiance continued, I would bring the new officer into the Sergeant’s office to discuss the situation. Several times the stubbornness of the new officer continued and would require an intervention by the Sergeant or even higher ranking supervisors.
When it was very apparent that the new person was not able to successfully complete the training period, they were given several options to follow up with.
Some would get the hint, and again, some would not. Other procedures had to be implemented to terminate the employee, requiring proper documentation from the FTO(s). I’ll talk more about those people later.
But wait! If you documented to the point that it made someone else work a little extra, like the sergeant in charge of field training, then you, as a FTO, were talked to about “too much documentation”.
Really?!?!?
The Sgt. claimed he didn’t have enough time to read a nine page daily evaluation report about a “problem child” as he had several others to read each day. So, I was instructed to shorten my evaluations. I refused as I explained that my ass would be on the line if I didn’t document the deficiencies exhibited by the trainee and he failed to progress properly, and due to the inability to “get it” may commit a grave error.
As a result, we were subjected to a “FTO report writing” class. We, as the trainers, were now being trained on how to document the trainees based on the training supervisor’s inability to manage his time to do his job.
The first two evaluations that were on the top of the stack of “How not to write an evaluation” were mine and a fellow squad mate, also a FTO. Both were documenting two different trainees and both were fairly long.
Needless to say, it was a long class with much “discussion”.
Back to the people we were training out in the field.
As an officer, you HAVE to develop certain skills. You have to look a little deeper, longer and harder at people and the things they do. Sometimes you have to ask questions that you would never ask anyone else. You have to be willing to put hands on people, to make an arrest and get physical, if need be. Some of the new folks were absolutely terrified to get close to our contacts in the field. They couldn’t/wouldn’t make eye contact. They danced around suspects as they attempted to get close to handcuff them. They would run from a fight.
Others couldn’t wait to play “cops and robbers”, even off duty.
One particular academy classmate of mine would sit in his personal vehicle, while off duty, and in field training status, in a particular notorious area of town and try to conduct “undercover” surveillance of drug dealers in the area.
A trainee of mine, again while off duty, would dress up in his academy training gear, that had LVMPD emblazoned on it, and put his gun belt on and handle the domestics in the apartment above him (rumor had it that he was smitten by the female in the apt.)
The same trainee, off duty, would dress up in full uniform and drive his personal vehicle to his old work place and walk in with extra guns jammed into his belt. When his old co-workers asked him what he was doing, his response was “just checking out the old neighborhood”. When they asked about the extra fire power in his belt, his response was that he and his Field Training Officer (me) had been threatened by gang members and he wanted to be “prepared”.
Both incidents were documented and brought to the attention of the department, but yet nothing was done. No discipline other than a “talking to”.
The rationale of the department was that they had spent a significant amount of money to attract, hire and train these new officers and they didn’t want to lose their “investment”.
When the senior officers objected, the administration claimed that there was “strength in numbers” and we should be glad that there is another “body” that can back you up while on a call. The senior officers stated they wanted “quality”, not “quantity”. A “quality” officer was worth 10 of a “quantity” officer.
That’s when I knew it was time to look elsewhere on the department.
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