About to be an FTO

[devin.green]

So I just reached my two year mark as a police officer. My department has hired a ton of new officers and has quickly become a young department. I have quickly established myself as solid patrol officer, which has led to me being asked to apply for becoming an FTO. I’m older and have prior law enforcement experience at the federal level which obviously helped me get to where I am. I also have 12 years of experience in training. Those of you who are or have been FTO’s, what advice or tips do you have for me?

[Aidokea]

So I just reached my two year mark as a police officer. My department has hired a ton of new officers and has quickly become a young department. I have quickly established myself as solid patrol officer, which has led to me being asked to apply for becoming an FTO. I’m older and have prior law enforcement experience at the federal level which obviously helped me get to where I am. I also have 12 years of experience in training. Those of you who are or have been FTO’s, what advice or tips do you have for me?

That's GREAT.

I was an FTO, and I take it seriously.

It is SO important to pass on the skill set to the next generation of new officers. I think the 3-5 year point, right after the "rookie" phase, is the best time to do it, because you know what you're doing, and your education is more recent and more current than the older officers. In your case, with prior law enforcement experience, 2 years may very well be enough.

TEACH THEM THE BASICS. I have seen so many bad FTOs start off by teaching all the short cuts, completely ignoring the basics. It appears they're doing this as an ego boost, to show off that they know things the trainee doesn't. It cripples the trainees.

An important example of this, would be driving. Early on, I let the trainee know that I'm going to score them accurately. They can do whatever they want if/when they go solo, when they are solely accountable for their decisions, but when they are with me, I need for them to demonstrate to me that they are capable of obeying the traffic laws that we are sworn to enforce. So that means COMPLETE stops at all stop signs, and I mean COMPLETE. If the speed limit is 20 mph, I expect them to do 20 mph, not 25. Signal EVERY lane change and turn, from 100 feet before, to 100 feet after, if that's what the law says. If they can do that, I will allow them SOME discretion in the later phases, but I'm never gonna put up with them basically ignoring the traffic laws and driving like an idiot.

The liability aspect of this cannot be overstated. One day, I heard a newer officer over the air, stopping an offender that I knew resisted arrest. He had warrants. I popped over, and as soon as the offender saw me arriving, the fight was on. We advised dispatch of the fight, and as soon as we had him cuffed, I advised dispatch that he was in custody, that we were under control, and to slow down all of the other responding units. About two minutes later, a young rookie who had just gone solo, who had never been held accountable for his driving, who had ignored the "slow down" part because he was eager to be a part of something "exciting", yard-saled one of our nicer newer marked patrol units at EASILY 100 mph in a 20 mph marked school zone in the rain. Surprisingly, he survived, but the scene looked like an airplane crash. To this day, it's the longest motor vehicle crash scene I've ever experienced- it was well over 500 feet long. His excuse was that all of his FTOs had let him drive like that and had given him good scores for driving, which was the truth. It saved his job, which may or may not be a good thing. His coaches were subjected to heat beyond measure, to include accusations of falsifying reports.

So teach the basics. There will be plenty of time later for them to learn the short cuts and at least then, they'll understand the "why" and the "how" of the short cuts.

[CCCSD]

You are responsible for your trainees FOREVER.

[Aidokea]

Lol. Not quite, it only feels like that...

[CCCSD]

If they take an @ction that you were responsible for signing off which violates policy/law, you are going to be held accountable for it. You trained them,

[Aidokea]

I made defensible notes on their daily evaluations. And I trained them right. If they do something wrong, they deviated from how I trained them, and that's on them.

[Aidokea]

Devin, I'm assuming that you're going to get the class on becoming an FTO, to include the "San Jose model".

A lot of new FTOs kind of let it go in one ear and out the other, and just make up their own stuff when they start getting trainees. I would advise against it. The San Jose model, if used correctly, works. It's not fair to subsequent FTOs, to pass along a trainee that hasn't really been trained properly to the level required for them to advance to the next phase.

I've had that happen to me, where I got a trainee who had allegedly "passed" the first three phases without being "recycled", and then miserably failed fourth (final) phase. Recycling trainees in phase four rarely works, for reasons that I may go into later. In any case, he was recycled to me, for his final chance to keep his job. I was utterly appalled- he couldn't even do FIRST phase work. I would like to have taken his first three coaches out behind the car wash and pulled their spleens out through their throats. The trainee failed, and lost his job. If he had been trained and scored properly during the first three phases, he might have had to repeat those phases in order to be ready for fourth phase, but because he was just passed along with bogus scores, the department lost all of the money spent hiring and training him to that point, as well as losing someone that MIGHT have been able to make it if he had been trained and scored properly.

[Aidokea]

With the San Jose model, the trainee is expected to do 25% of the work first phase, 50% of the work second phase, 75% of the work third phase, and then 100% of the work fourth phase.

The most common challenge I have encountered, is being ready for fourth phase. During fourth phase, the FTO is in street clothes, and does no coaching, unless the trainee encounters something he's never encountered before. That's why recycling fourth phase rarely works.

But a lot of people think that if the trainee can do third phase work (75%), that they can do fourth phase work (100%). In reality, if they start fourth phase only doing 75% of the work, they're probably only going to be doing 75% of the work at the end of fourth phase, because they're getting no coaching, and they either fail legitimately, or are allowed to go solo unable to do their job, because of bogus fourth phase scores.

Trainees CAN "graduate" third phase only doing 75% of the work, but realistically they need to be able to do 100% of the work BEFORE starting fourth phase in my opinion.

[clof2001]

So I just reached my two year mark as a police officer. My department has hired a ton of new officers and has quickly become a young department. I have quickly established myself as solid patrol officer, which has led to me being asked to apply for becoming an FTO. I’m older and have prior law enforcement experience at the federal level which obviously helped me get to where I am. I also have 12 years of experience in training. Those of you who are or have been FTO’s, what advice or tips do you have for me?

My advice is to make a name for yourself as a teacher and a leader, not one of those "hard" FTO's that everyone is afraid of having.

I can't count how many times I had a trainee come to me on second phase that didn't know how to make a basic traffic stop or write a simple pretty theft report. This is because on their first phase their TO was too busy throwing their trainee's equipment out of the patrol vehicle, making them walk the sidewalks looking for street signs, or making them sit on the car alone memorizing policy and procedure while the TO and the beat partners ate lunch at the local restaurant. Every station I worked at seemed to have one or two FTO's who prided themselves on getting trainees to quit or making sure they had to get extended or re-phased with someone else.

There's a time and place for stress and I'm not saying I was soft on my trainees, but it's a waste of a month of patrol training if the FTO is just making them re-live the academy experience and not actually showing them how to work on the streets independently.

At the end of the day remember YOU are responsible for your trainee's actions, even long after they're out of your car. Down the road if they do something out of policy because "that's what I was taught", you can expect to be answering some tough questions by the brass.

[Aidokea]

My advice is to make a name for yourself as a teacher and a leader, not one of those "hard" FTO's that everyone is afraid of having.

I can't count how many times I had a trainee come to me on second phase that didn't know how to make a basic traffic stop or write a simple pretty theft report. This is because on their first phase their TO was too busy throwing their trainee's equipment out of the patrol vehicle, making them walk the sidewalks looking for street signs, or making them sit on the car alone memorizing policy and procedure while the TO and the beat partners ate lunch at the local restaurant. Every station I worked at seemed to have one or two FTO's who prided themselves on getting trainees to quit or making sure they had to get extended or re-phased with someone else.

There's a time and place for stress and I'm not saying I was soft on my trainees, but it's a waste of a month of patrol training if the FTO is just making them re-live the academy experience and not actually showing them how to work on the streets independently.

At the end of the day remember YOU are responsible for your trainee's actions, even long after they're out of your car. Down the road if they do something out of policy because "that's what I was taught", you can expect to be answering some tough questions by the brass.

A-freekin'-men.

There's no need to create artificial stress. There's already enough stress- they're learning a new job, that job is police work, they're on probation, and they're being directly supervised and evaluated by an FTO to see if they get to keep their job.

When I was new, one of my FTOs was one of those that was unnecessarily abusive, for no other reason than the fact that they could. They bragged that they had never passed anyone. They stressed their previous trainee so much, that the trainee quit because they couldn't keep their gun out of their mouth.

As an FTO, I always told my trainees that if they failed, it wouldn't be because I didn't help them enough. I made sure they knew that I was on their side, that I would do my very best to help them to succeed, and that they could call me 24 hours a day even after they go solo, if they wanted to talk to me about anything.

[just joe]

Good advice so far. Also, understand that not everyone learns the same way, so you may need to adjust your teaching style to their learning style.

You can be firm and fair without being an ***.

Evaluate/grade accurately and according to standards. Don't fall into the "well, he's doing pretty good for only be here for five weeks, so I am going to mark him as meeting standards in this category" even though they do not meet standards -- they are just ahead of most other five week trainees who don't meet standards in whatever category. You mark that person as not meeting standards, and you note that they are doing well and are ahead of their peers in this category. You can add that you don't anticipate any issue with them achieving standards by the end of phase whatever.

Have an evaluation form that you fill out at least weekly unless you have gone to a daily observation report. Nothing in your evaluation should be a surprise to the trainee. They should always know where they are doing well, and where they need to show improvement.

[Aidokea]

Absolutely...

[Aidokea]

Let your trainees know that the first rule in law enforcement, is that everybody goes home after their tour of duty. Officer safety is the highest priority- the rest is just details.

Let them know that nobody's perfect, and although mistakes are not the goal, we understand and accept that trainees will make mistakes. And we are there to keep them safe while they learn.

[devin.green]

Thank you for the great tips and insight!

[Lawdog138]

FTO was nothing like this with the NYPD. FTO’s throwing trainees equipment out the car? $hit, all that equipment would be gone with the first bounce off the concrete (Bronx bounce).

My FTO was 6 months on a foot post with my partner on some $hithole block and told to do cop stuff if we come across it. If we get a collar, go over the radio and a sector will pick you and your perp up. If a job comes over on your post, answer it. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open. That was FTO in the NYPD in 2000. In those six months you learned everything you needed to learn to run a sector.

[Lawdog138]

FTO was nothing like this with the NYPD. FTO’s throwing trainees equipment out the car? $hit, all that equipment would be gone with the first bounce off the concrete (Bronx bounce). Though we were a rookie, we were one of them. We were cops.

My FTO was 6 months on a foot post with my partner on some $hithole block and told to do cop stuff if we come across it. If we get a collar, go over the radio and a sector will pick you and your perp up. If a job comes over on your post, answer it. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open. That was FTO in the NYPD in 2000. In those six months you learned everything you needed to learn to run a sector.

[Joe2845]

I too, was an FTO, and found it to be rewarding. It was also difficult and a lot of extra work. Since our agency was relatively small, I picked up maybe three trainees a year at most.

The biggest problem I had fell on the shoulders of the Patrol Lt. or Chief Deputy.Since we were always understaffed, they would often attempt to convince me that the new guy needed to be cut loose ahead of time. I never gave in and cut the training short.

Eventually, my stubbornness led to fewer FTO opportunities. Finally, I was asked if I really wanted the position. I said, "Not if I can't do it by the numbers!"

If you can't do it properly, don't do it.

[Lawdog138]

I too, was an FTO, and found it to be rewarding. It was also difficult and a lot of extra work. Since our agency was relatively small, I picked up maybe three trainees a year at most.

The biggest problem I had fell on the shoulders of the Patrol Lt. or Chief Deputy.Since we were always understaffed, they would often attempt to convince me that the new guy needed to be cut loose ahead of time. I never gave in and cut the training short.

Eventually, my stubbornness led to fewer FTO opportunities. Finally, I was asked if I really wanted the position. I said, "Not if I can't do it by the numbers!"

If you can't do it properly, don't do it.

I’m not doing a true FTO program due to my prior LE experience, but I am assigned to a FTO to learn the way this department does things compared to the way my prior agency does things, which are quite different. I also have to learn their MCT or MDT and it’s programs (which I’m learning by being loaded up on reports and so on).

The powers that be want to cut me loose early, but my FTO knows I’m not ready yet (which I am not). The police stuff is fine, but where my department will make an arrest, they might not. The way they write reports are different, what calls they will take a report for and what calls they won’t. They way they use the radio is much different. These are things I have to get a grasp on and I have only been out on patrol for five shifts and there are three more shifts before they want me let loose. The average FTO program with this department for green cops is 40 shifts.

There is a lot thrown at you and they are throwing as much as they can at me so that I’m exposed. It’s overwhelming and information overload. They are pressed to get new deputies out because of the low manpower, but that means more responsibility and accountability is put on my FTO and me. He said to me, “it’s not fair to you either.” He’s going to try to make sure I get more shifts in before I’m let loose.

[Joe2845]

Sounds familiar! Good luck, and I hope that your FTO holds his ground.