As someone familiar with law enforcement from experience, at MdE we know that keeping track of training can be a huge pain. There is training for recruits and training for in-service officers, each with different requirements to keep in mind. Then there are employees who miss training and need to make up for it. What a nightmare it can be for the training coordinator to dig through a pile of papers, trying to schedule everyone without critical overlaps. We think that when it comes to police training and employee records management, there is no better way to approach it than with specialized software. And here are three main reasons you should switch from paper to digital.
Instant Access to the Training Status
Looking for information is so much easier on a computer. Even if all you have is an Excel spreadsheet, all you need to do is use the search function instead of opening dozens of physical folders. On a computer, you can instantly see the status of everyone in the training queue and their progress. But if you have specialized software, such as our employee records management suit, you can even set training requirements and get automatically notified when an officer is due for training. Having instant access to the personnel’s training status also makes it easy to put together reports both for internal use and for your state’s training standards organization.
Avoid Repeating the Same Training
Different states have different police training requirements. For example, Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions mandate that a minimum of 18 hours annually or 35-36 hours biannually is required for in-service training for police and corrections officers. The areas of training may include things like driver training, firearms training, statutory law, emergency medical services, etc. In addition to the required training, your department may be offering optional classes to help employees on all levels learn new skills and advance in their career path. Without a digital system to document all this training, it’s easy to end up with employees who take the same modules twice or take classes that for the most part overlap in the covered subject.
Reduce Liability From Missed Training
Police departments throughout the country have long been under scrutiny for “excessive use of force.” To avoid potential liability from use of force complaints, it helps to ensure that your staff undergoes the timely and appropriate training on de-escalation strategies and tactics. There is really no single area of police training that is less important than others, so no training should be missed or overlooked. That’s when police training software can be of great help. Not only can you see who completed the training and who didn’t, but you can also attach the test scores and attendance sheets to identify. Cross-check them with an officer’s complaint record and you can identify individuals who may benefit from additional training.
Don’t Forget About Field Training
While classroom training is important, nothing can prepare new recruits better than the field training. Meanwhile, field training and daily observation reports present additional challenges when it comes to managing the paperwork and keeping records organized. Thankfully, there is software that automates and simplifies this task. Take, for example, our A.D.O.R.E system that allows you to document every aspect of the recruit’s behavior, and even assess overall trends and training success rate throughout your department.
Have questions about implementing any of these solutions in your police department or corrections facility? Give us a call or contact us online and we’ll help you find the right software for your training record keeping challenges.
