I came across a news article today criticizing a Miami Chief of Police for the language he used 20 years ago during undercover training. The article did not specify the words he used but given the context of the article, we can assume it had racially abusive overtones. Without any further knowledge of this case, it would be wrong to comment on the specifics but there are a few things we can take away from it in regard to training.

Over a period of years how police training is delivered has changed. There has been huge pressure applied to make the training less aggressive and less likely to cause offense to those taking part. There are some schools of thought that say a police student should never be made to feel uncomfortable during training and that they should never ‘fail’ a course, instead, it should be recorded that they are ‘not yet competent.’

Let us begin with the good sides of this. First, there was a culture of some trainers shouting at students and bullying them. Some trainers had no background or training in teaching and their idea of training delivery was how they did it when they were on the street. Bad language was used and offensive language was used because that was the way cops talked, allegedly. Given the role that training plays in shaping an organization, change was needed. Incorporating more inclusive language, by trainers provided examples of acceptable behavior as did specific lessons on diversity. Challenging the use of inappropriate languages such as gender-biased words or racial slurs led to changing police culture. For some agencies, this began around the late nineties, while others were slower on the uptake. In some places, this has led to a notable improvement in how officers and staff conduct themselves. More work needs to be done and shaping the culture of any organization is a never-ending process. It can be safely said that most agencies need more training on diversity and much more training on basic communication and interpersonal skills.

The downside of this movement within policing is that in many cases we are leaving police officers shockingly ill-prepared for what they will face on the street. We do not prepare them to be shouted at, sworn at, pushed, and shoved. We give them no training to habituate them to the type of racial or gender slurs they are likely to encounter from drunks on a Friday night. We put them out there and they react badly in some cases when someone calls them a bad name or insults them, Small wonder that they overreact or suffer from mental health issues. We need to prepare officers for what they will encounter in the real world. so that they have the interpersonal skills to deal with it and the resilience to cope with it. This means in some lessons officers will be shouted at, sworn at pushed and shoved. And trainers will sue bad and offensive language. If we don’t train officers in a realistic way, we are to blame when they make mistakes.

This is really important for highly stressful roles such as SWAT teams and undercover policing to name but two examples. If we are putting officers into dangerous roles it is negligence not to train them properly. If we are putting an officer into a situation where someone is going to be shooting at them, then they should be trained with bangs and noise going off around them. If we want an undercover officer to penetrate organized crime or an extremist group they need to be trained hearing the offensive language used and using it. If they react in an offended way to it the operation will fail they will potentially lose their life.

If an officer is going to be offended at hearing such language, or they cannot cope with the associated pressure that is applied during training they are NOT suitable for the role. Better they fail a course than fail on the ground. Training needs to be realistic not sanitized for those who do not have the aptitude to deal with it.

Before coming on specialist courses where this is likely to occur all officers should be made to sign a declaration that to the best of their knowledge they have no underlying mental health issues, no serious ongoing personal problems and that they are aware that some of the content of the training may be offensive. We warn people as they go into a movie that it contains offensive language if they don’t want to go to it they don’t have to but they give up their right to complain.

If you want to know more about how we deliver situation appropriate training or diversity training please get in touch.