The Big Secret to Decreasing Complaints from the Community

The Big Secret to Decreasing Complaints from the Community.

Prevention in the form of training

The Big Secret to Decreasing Complaints from the Community is training. By ensuring that your officers are properly trained, you can decrease complaints and lawsuits stemming from officer misconduct, errors or subpar investigations which seems to be a new trend in DV, sex crimes cases. Prevention in the form of quality training is key to avoiding these complaints and creating a more positive relationship between the police and the community.

Don’t wait, get quality training

Don’t wait until there’s a problem to get quality training. Get it before there’s an issue. That way, you can avoid having a situation escalate into something that could have been prevented.

Keep the community updated on your progress

It’s important to keep the community updated on your department’s progress when it comes to training. Let them know what you’re doing and why it’s important. This will help build trust between the department and the public and the optics look great on social media.

Become a learning organization – its not just one, its everyone

Become a learning organization, where everyone is responsible for learning and growing. This means offering opportunities for officers to learn new skills and improve upon existing ones. It also means encouraging officers to share their knowledge with others. This is a cultural shift for some agencies but already engrained in others. Which are you? 

How to avoid an untrained officer lawsuit

Have a training plan and stick to it

The first way to avoid an untrained officer lawsuit is to have a training plan and stick to it. This means that you need to know what type of training your officers need, how often they need it, and make sure that they are getting it on a regular basis. You also need to be able to show that you are following through on your training plan by keeping records of what has been done and when. Believe it or not, there are still agencies who don’t track anything!

Ensure you hold officers accountable for learning the material

Another way to avoid an untrained officer lawsuit is to ensure that you hold officers accountable for learning the material. This means that you need the training to have learning benchmarks: tests or quizzes and a that dreaded feedback form at the end of each training session to make sure that they are absorbing the information. You also need to have a way to track their progress over time so that you can see if they are improving. If your training provider does not do this, find another one quickly. Or just sign up with us to avoid the problem all together. 

Seek out quality training, relevant to today’s issues and the community

A third way to avoid an untrained officer lawsuit is to seek out quality training (we know a guy), relevant to today’s issues and the community. This means finding trainers who are experts in their field and who can provide valuable information that is specific to your community. It also means making sure that the training is up-to-date and relevant to the current climate so that it can be properly applied in real-world situations. You don’t want to hang your hat on a retired officer’s 80’s career highlight reel because things have changed – a LOT.

Continue to learn

Finally, one of the best ways to avoid an untrained officer lawsuit is simply to continue learning yourself. This means staying up-to-date on new developments in your field, attending conferences and seminars, reading professional journals, etc. By continuing your own education, you will be better equipped to train your officers effectively and keep them up-to-date on best practices.

Conclusion

The big secret to decreasing complaints from the community is prevention in the form of training. By getting quality training, officers can learn how to avoid an untrained officer lawsuit. Seek out quality training that is relevant to today’s issues and the community.