In-Service Training

In-Service Police Training Programs

In-service training has become an essential part of a police officer’s career. Over the course of the last three decades, police training has continued to become more professionalized and standardized, with many efforts being made to continually provide in-service training opportunities to keep officers current on their professional knowledge, skills, and abilities. Among the police leaders who were at the forefront of this development were Berkeley (California) Police Chief August Vollmer during the early 1900s through the 1920s, and Chicago [Page 212](Illinois) Superintendent of Police O. W. Wilson in the 1960s; both recognized the need to provide ongoing training for police officers. Today, all 50 states provide some type of either mandatory or nonmandatory in-service training for officers. This continual offering of in-service training of police officers not only enables officers to perform their duties more efficiently and safely, it limits potential liabilities from civil actions that may arise from an officer’s actions and gives an officer documented expertise when having to support their actions or testify in court.

The delivery of in-service training generally occurs through formal classroom instruction ranging from 4- to 40-hour blocks of instruction. While classroom training may be the most prominent method of delivering in-service training, it is not the only option. Advancements in technology and shrinking agency training budgets have required more and more police departments to look for alternative delivery methods, including instruction provided online or in an electronic format, webinars, and during roll call or shift briefings. Private companies, universities, police academies, and local community colleges have also emerged as viable alternatives in developing and delivering specialized in-service police training programs. These providers offer a great deal of in-service training for officers, with 88% of all current police academies alone offering in-service training to police officers.

Topics for in-service training of police officers can include community policing and problem solving, ethics, law and legal updates, domestic violence, and firearms qualifications. While the topics listed above are examples of in-service training topics, not all are mandatory. Mandatory in-service training is generally directed toward high-risk and high-liability topics, or topics that are required to maintain an officer’s certification. The high-risk and high-liability topics that most states have identified as mandatory include domestic violence, firearms, use of force, vehicular pursuit, law and legal updates, bloodborne pathogens, hazardous materials, and CPR and first aid. These mandatory topics are usually instructed by certified police instructors or subject matter experts (SMEs), and often occur within the individual officer’s police agency.

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