I ran across this from Rumsfeld this morning:
here
Eight weeks seems a little short to me. How long does academy training normally take in the US? Is that all there is to it, or do new officers do some sort of apprenticeship after graduation as well?
Stupid hampsters ate my post.
Anyway, that time seems short to me. It varies some, but 20-26 weeks seems around standard for the U.S. Dekalb County, GA goes for “20+ weeks”. St. Louis County’s is about 5 months cite here!. Vermont’s State Police train for 23 weeks. I know they’re odd cites, I rounded them up for a paper I did.
And I think once they graduate, they do “in the field” work for a couple months, but I’m not 100% sure on that.
When I was in the academy (Wisconsin) it was 6 weeks, then 6 weeks with an FTO (field training officer). Today it’s 10 weeks, plus time with an FTO which is determined by each individual department. That’s for the general police adademies run by the states technical colleges. “Class A” cities like Milwaukee and Madison have their own academy and it’s about 26 weeks. I believe our State Patrols academy is 22-26 weeks also.
But if you’re talking small city cops. the academy here is 10 weeks.
It’s 11 weeks if the officer is sent through radar training.
In Wisconsin one must have an Associate Degree in Police Science/Criminal Justice, or a Bachelor in anything else before being eligable to become a cop.
The academy/FTO training is seperate from training an officer has to do during his career. Every year I have to attend 40 hours of inservice training (legal updates, persuit driving, defensive tactics etc.) plus qualify with a firearm 2 times per year, plus renew first responder training every other year. I’m an assistant instructor on some things, so I also have to attend instructor training every year. (:smack: it’s a lot of training for a guy whose only on the job part-time now days).
Sticking someone on the street without being certified (finishing the academy) could be a huge liability issue. Many of the law suites that departments face come back to training issues.
Obviously, it varies widely.
When I went through the Washington State Police Academy in 1987, it was 12 weeks long. A few years ago, it was updated to six months.
After the Academy there may or may not be a field training program. My department currently uses a three month FTO program, but only a few years ago we had no formal FTO program. When I graduated from the Academy, I was put on solo patrol the next day (of course, I had a couple of years experience as a reserve officer before being hired full time).
I’m told that there are still some places in rural America where a person can be hired as a cop, be given a badge and a gun and put on the road. That’s pretty scary to me.
Well, Americans elect sheriffs, don’t they?
No, sheriffs are not elected.
It is a position that an individual applies for, just like a regular police officer would. The difference is that sheriffs are resposible for counties. There are some cities within a county that don’t have their own police force, so they contract with the county sheriff to police their city.
YES they are!
I think vandal, what you are think of are deputy Sheriffs. Deputy’s are hired in the same was as municipal police officers are hired (testing, interviews, etc.).
The Sheriff himself is elected. At least in most jurisdictions.
And in many jurisdictions the Sheriff can deputize someone without them actually working for the county.
This happened to me a little over a decade ago. I had left full time law enforcement to take a position as a security consultant. I was able to convince a Sheriff I knew to give me special deputy status so I could still legally carry my weapon. (no CCW here). 4 years later he retired and my special deputy status went too. But by that time I had picked up a part-time patrolman gig with another department.
The office of Sheriff is a unique one. They are half lawman and half pol. But they ARE elected.
My cousin is an officer with the Santa Monica PD. His academy training was in the 3-6 month range (I don’t recall exactly but I’ll ask next time I see him).
This was on top of a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice and he’s been a “police cadet” since sometime in high school I think. They also have very stringent background checks and physical requirements.
At least around here it doesn’t look like they’ll just take any Joe or Jane who applies, run 'em through the academy and put 'em on the job.
And that’s a good thing 
How long does it take to train a cop to do WHAT?
And in Texas, county sheriffs are elected. We do try to make a point of not electing idiots, although triggerhappiness is sometimes considered a virtue.
This is exactly the thing. In NYC, cadets are trained in community relations, evidence collectionk, the code numbers for every third-degree violation, &ct. &ct. A country with a large group of people engaging in murdering the citizenry may not have the luxury of such things and even the desired, or optimal amount of training might be less. In the case of Iraq, retraining after basic laws have been restored and the Ba’athists destroyed may (depending on resources) be a desirable goal. But I’d think in the meantime the basics of when to shoot/not to shoot, calming crowds, imposing order peacefully, etc. might reasonably have to suffice.
So six months here might reasonably equal eight weeks in Iraq and, as Rumsfeld said, four weeks in crisis Iraq.
At present, PA mandates Act 120 training, which is 19-20 weeks on a full time basis.
Sheriffs are elected on a County basis, as it is a row office. Deputies are hired as are conventional law enforcement officers.