Editor’s Note: This article is part of Police1’s Training Week, which explores how agencies can improve knowledge retention, prevent skill decay and ensure officers can apply what they’ve learned under pressure. Thanks to our Training Week sponsor, T4E.
“Hello. My name is Officer Max Justice, and I’m trained to minimum standards.”
Just like a 12-step program, the first step is being honest with ourselves and admitting we have a problem. The problem is law enforcement agencies only train to minimum standards. Yes, even your department only trains to minimum standards.
Many departments struggle to maintain certifications and meet the minimum required state training standards. A shortage of officers forces departments to operate below minimum staffing levels, making it difficult to schedule officers for training. Added to this is the fact that training all officers beyond minimum standards would cost a significant amount of money.
Instead, law enforcement agencies across the country “check-the-box” and send officers out on the street under the misguided belief that they are well-trained. But staffing issues and funding are only part of the problem.
This trainer’s guide offers a practical framework for building skills officers can retain, adapt and apply when real-world situations do not look like the drill
That’s not MY department
If the thought entered your mind that this isn’t your department, think again. How much time do you get working on defensive tactics? How much performance driving training do you get? How are your first aid/CPR/TCCC skills? Many departments do less than eight hours of defensive tactics and firearms training each year. We spend hours upon hours driving patrol cars while operating cellphones, radios and computers — but officers get little training behind the wheel after graduating from the basic academy.
Even if your department trains more than neighboring agencies, how does it compare to those outside your state and outside your region? Unless you go to training outside your geographic area, you don’t truly know if your training is as good as you think it is. Staying inside your fishbowl won’t open your eyes to the world, and simply training within your department won’t introduce new skills, tactics or techniques. Just because you’re the best shooter in your department doesn’t mean you’re good enough and really isn’t a barometer of your overall skill level.
If you still think your department prioritizes training beyond minimum standards, consider the findings of the court in the 1979 case of Popow v. City of Margate. In that case, a bystander was killed by a police officer who was pursuing a kidnapping suspect on foot. The court ruled the officer’s lack of training was a key factor in the death and established requirements for realistic police training. The court ruled training must include realistic scenarios, exertion, low-light conditions, moving targets, shoot/no-shoot decision making and be conducted in an environment similar to where officers work. The court also ruled that annual firearm qualifications are not considered training. Popow v. City of Margate was in 1979, and there are departments in every region and every state failing to meet those standards set over 45 years ago. This sounds a lot like deliberate indifference.
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Illusion of competence
Police officers often mistake good fortune with good tactics. Just because we experienced a positive outcome does not mean we were good. The illusion of competence is known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect and describes the cognitive bias towards inflated self-assessment. In other words, we tend to overestimate how much we’ve learned from our experiences, training and education. Researchers studying the Dunning-Kruger Effect even visited a local gun range to quiz gun hobbyists about gun safety. They found that those who scored the lowest on their knowledge about gun safety, grossly overestimated their knowledge about firearms.
The same is true of police officers. Like the motoring public, many police officers believe they are highly trained and skilled drivers. However, the number of officers killed in traffic crashes every year tells a different story. Similarly, most police officers who shoot competitively for the first time get beat by civilian shooters whose skills far exceed those of full-time SWAT officers and firearm instructors.
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On the other end of the Dunning-Kruger graph is the tendency for highly skilled people to underestimate their abilities relative to others. This is the stage where we have learned and experienced enough to understand that there is more for us to know and more room for our skills to improve. In other words, once you reach a certain level of knowledge, you’ve learned enough to know that you don’t know much.
The bottom line is we need to stop allowing our pathetic amount of departmental training to inflate our egos. The only time an officer should be considered “minimally trained” is the day their FTO turns them loose. Every day after that requires effort towards improvement. Some of the responsibility for this effort falls on your administration, your immediate supervisor and fellow officers. But the primary person responsible is you. We need to stop believing that mediocrity is acceptable.
Training is key
Overcoming the illusion of competence is simple, but it is not easy. It’s simple because it isn’t complex. It’s not easy, because it requires effort. Once again, the first step is to admit we have a problem. After admitting we have a problem, we can make ourselves better by taking responsibility for our own training. I’ve heard all the excuses. “If my department won’t pay for it, then it’s not important.” “Training is expensive, and I can’t afford it.” “If I pay for my own training, my department won’t bother to pay for any of my training.” There are more excuses, but I’m sure you get the idea, and may have muttered a couple of these yourself.
Training doesn’t need to be expensive. There’s an assortment of online training opportunities available at little to no cost. Most quality online training providers cover a vast range of topics from firearm skills to de-escalation and first aid to leadership. It’s there and ready if you make the time.
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If you’re considering attending a conference or training school on your own time and dime, many have scholarships available to help defer part or all costs. The application for these scholarships takes a little extra time, but it can save you thousands of dollars on travel and tuition expenses. Whether it’s because of the time involved in the application process, not bothering because their department denied the training request, not liking the idea of asking someone else for financial assistance, or simply not knowing the programs exist, many officers who would be eligible for training scholarships fail to apply and never get the training benefit.
True professionals seek additional training, education and development outside the minimum standard training provided by their department. You are the only person looking out for your own best interests. You are the only person responsible for you. Does that hurt your feelings? Good. Do something about it. As Phil Messina, a highly decorated NYPD sergeant (ret.) and founder and president of Modern Warrior Defensive Tactics Institute put it, “Every cop needs to go outside their department to get realistic training. You don’t train for your department. You train for your family.”
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