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TRAINING has been the focus of a number of police lawsuits, is training aimed at offduty behavior. He says that the public has grown to expect an off-duty officer to intervene, even if the intervention could make matters worse. "We're talking about the issue of officer safety… (even if) the chances of success are slight," says Gallagher. He acknowledges that sometimes the officer wins, but adds that in many cases where the officer does get the drop on the perpetrators, officers responding to the scene can misinterpret what they find, resulting in officerupon-officer shootings. "There's more chance that we'll be attending a police funeral than a medal ceremony." His recommendation: Assess departmental tasks and the skills officers are expected to maintain. Determine what level of performance is acceptable. 75 percent? 95 percent? (Note: Gallagher readily admits this is a trick question; what chief or sheriff is going to settle for less than 100 percent?) Then, train accordingly. Do it economically The North Carolina Justice Academy main campus sits on a flat, sprawling area of land adjacent to the small town of Salemburg, N.C., just outside of Fayetteville, home of Fort Bragg's U.S. Army base. Mark Strickland, the academy's director, is unapologetically biased when it comes to his belief in the importance of police training; but then, he sees the results that good training can make in a department every single day. "We at the academy really pride ourselves in providing good quality training (using) cost effective measures for the entire state of North Carolina," says Strickland. In addition to basic skills like defensive driving, firearms courses and investigatory procedures, the academy also has specialized offerings. And the best part of the package is that this training costs state law enforcement nothing except the price of meals and transportation. The NCJA also provides specialized training in agency settings, as long as the agency covers the costs instructors incur traveling to the site and staying in their jurisdiction. For agencies with large groups of officers to train, having the instructor come to them is a worthwhile expenditure and much cheaper than shipping officers out of town en mass. Most states have similar access to state or regional law enforcement training facilities, but surprisingly, not all agencies take advantage of this low-cost way to beef up their training. Strickland says that smaller agencies, especially you need this robot. Climbs stairs, Durable Tracks, Two way Audio, Dual Cameras, Easy Setup CarbonFire 10 mounting capability AVATAR II for SWAT, Police, CBRNE, and EOD use. 650.838.9191 www.robotex.com sales@robotex.com Circle 66 on Reader Service Card www.officer.com August 2013 Law Enforcement Technology 13