Discussion #3: Field Training and cultural awareness
Read the material below. Begin with the Field Training Officer (FTO).
The videos below give you a look into police culture, a culture full of ethical paradoxes, and morally ambiguous decisions. Chapter five (5) in your Criminology text is helpful.
Watch Video
The Police Subculture
Duration: 2:28
User: n/a – Added: 11/26/18
Watch Video
“Typical Criminal” and “Symbolic Assailants” Stereotypes – Essay Example
Duration: 6:23
User: n/a – Added: 6/20/23
Answer all 4 questions below.
Discussion Questions
Explain the ideas behind Skolnick and Fyfe’s “symbolic assailant.” What drives an officer’s perception of people, places, and things?
For the rookie police officer on solo patrol, what is meant by defending territory within the concept of spatial policing?
Police culture is described as mysterious and secretive. Why is police culture so difficult to define?
How important is an FTO’s (Field Training Officers) ethical beliefs when training a rookie officer? How can an FTO prejudices, biases and racial sensibilities affect effective ethical training of the rookie. What are the dangers or downfalls?
Field Training Officer
According to Warners (2000) [LSF14] [H15] , field training is the most critical stage to becoming an independent police officer. During this period, FTOs present recruits with two challenges: to learn the practical aspects of law enforcement and community service and to assimilate into the professional culture of a particular agency. The second skill set learned makes the rookie an artisan; the idea is to turn the rookie into a jack-of-all-trades, comfortable in his or her skin and ready for just about anything.
After successful academy training, a recruit is introduced to the realities and complexities of policing through his or her FTO. It is through the eyes of the FTO that the newcomer begins to learn the subtle nuances of the police function. The FTO will tell tales and stories of all kinds: gruesome tales of death and violence, urban legends about old-school officers and their brand of street justice.
The encounter stage is often characteristic of field training or probationary periods for rookies. Field training is the first phase that offers a rookie a glimpse of the culture and climate of his or her department. During this period, rookies often experience a “reality shock” due to the demands and responsibilities of real-world police work. It is at this stage that rookies begin to become emotionally involved in their roles. Field training equates to the first practical exposure to more formal methods of socialization. These formal methods include officer safety, arrest procedures, and a wide variety of situation-based “street” scenarios. Interaction with veteran officers happens more regularly as the new officer begins to learn the ropes and to mimic those officers who exhibit behavior that coincides with the rookie’s moral and ethical framework. It is during this phase of training that the rookie starts to observe and begins to understand the rules, policies, and regulations of his or her department.
On the Road: Reality Training
The first words out of an FTO’s mouth might be that the academy was simply the test that got you to field training. It is here that real life and “the job” intersect with street life and human behavior. Field training officers are veteran patrol officers who will instruct you, chastise you, embarrass you, and teach you the right way of doing things. When discussing your process with other police officers, you might be called an “umbilical cord” or a useless “boot”; the list of degradations is too long to reckon. This type of jarring and insolence is part of the process; the FTO will make it very clear that to earn your badge, and the respect it symbolizes, is a journey. Nevertheless, over the next 6 to 12 months (training time is agency specific, depending on workforce and financial constraints), the rookie will be slowly indoctrinated into the community’s street climate. Police culture has a mythical quality and is unique to each agency, although public opinion often paints police culture with a disparaging big brush. Call it conditioning, indoctrination, or acculturation, this tutelage happens slowly, but the progression is continuous. Subtly, over time, the FTO conveys certain information as cautionary tales of interactions to come. Rookies tend to assimilate into the philosophy of the training officer. Often, the FTO’s point of view becomes the basis for the rookie’s early perception of his or her peers and the beginning of his or her working personality. According to Bouza (1990), new officers soon discover that their role is to control fractious and rebellious souls who resent their very presence. Humbled by the discovery that their ministrations are not welcome and finding themselves challenged to maintain control, young officers make another disheartening discovery: Nobody understands them, not their friends and not their loved ones. Bouza continued by declaring that rookie cops are rarely told to be silent about departmental secrets. There are no written policies or standing orders upholding the code of silence. There is no need to be explicit. The reactions, body language, whispered suggestions, and other rites of initiation speak for themselves. Cops rarely seek counsel from anyone outside their ranks.