GENERAL NOTICE 99-03

To:            Chief Law Enforcement Officers
                 Resident Troopers
                 Training Officers
                 Protective Services

From:         T. William Knapp
                 Executive Director

Date:         June 25, 1999

Subject:     Field Training Program 

As I am sure you are already aware, from previous notices, surveys, and Council minutes, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council has been studying the Field Training component of the Basic Training Program for over one year.

During that time, the Council has passed several resolutions upgrading and professionalizing the Field Training Program. The purpose of this General Notice is to update you on those changes.

-- First, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, at its November 5, 1998 meeting, adopted a new "Field Training Program" to become effective for the trainees enrolled in any Basic Recruit Training Class commencing on or after July 1, 2001.

--Secondly, effective with any Basic Recruit Training Class commencing on or after July 1, 2001, the "Field Training Program" will be, at a minimum, at least four hundred (400) hours in duration.

--Thirdly, effective with any Basic Recruit Training Class commencing on or after July 1, 2001, only those persons who have been certified by the POSTC Certification Unit as "Field Training Officers" shall be allowed to perform the duties of a Field Training Officer.

As its meeting on June 3, 1999, the Council adopted the following resolutions dealing with the length of the training course for Field Training officers as well as the qualifications to become a Field Training Officer:

--Effective on and after July 1, 1999, the training program to become a Field Training Officer shall be no shorter than thirty-two (32) hours of core subjects as determined by the POST Council.

--The POSTC’s Certification Unit will however grant certification to any police officer, who previously successfully completed, prior to July 1, 1999, a Field Training Officer course consisting of at least twenty-four (24) hours.

--Please refer to the attached "Field Training Officer – Qualification Record" that all chief executives will be required to complete and forward to Council staff prior to any officer being admitted into any future POSTC certified Field Training Officer course.

The Police Officer Standards and Training Council’s Curriculum Committee has developed a Field Training Program that will be distributed to all agencies as soon as it is printed.

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