By Mike Simmons
In the Criminal Justice domain, there are many avenues that can be pursued. There are municipal, county, state and federal police officers, municipal, county, state and federal corrections officers, probation officers, private police officers, and security officers. Within each discipline there are several specialties that are available, such as white-collar crime investigators, transport officers, and Sexual Predator investigators.
Regardless of our chosen path within the Criminal Justice field, two things are certain: First, our job will always change. No matter how hard we want things to remain just as they were when we started, it’s not going to happen. Laws change, culture changes, and the powers above us change. Second, we are temporary. I worked for a chief at the Pensacola Police Department – Lou Goss – who retired after working 48 years…FORTY-EIGHT YEARS!
However, Big Lou was temporary, just like all of us are. That tells me that we need to, as Stephen Covey says, “begin with the end in mind.” When I was a young officer, I thought just as the young officers today in my academies think…that they will live forever, and that they will be in the profession forever. Take it from a guy who has been in the profession since 1982…it goes by fast!
I spent 30 years at my department. About two years after I retired, I went to the police station to get a new “Retired Guy” ID. When I walked in the door, the first thing the first officer said to me was, “Can I help you, Sir?” We are all temporary.
That begs the question, “What will the officers look like when I retire?” or “What will happen to law enforcement in the next generation?” I will answer those questions with certainty, as I see the next generation in my school. The next officers will be different. They are smarter, more informed, and more educated. They think differently – more according to this culture. The answer to the second question, “What will happen to law enforcement in the next generation?” It will be fine. Those officers have the same passion, the same fire that we did when we first started.
But how will they know? How will they know what they will face? It is impossible for me and my staff to prepare them for everything they will see. We are only in the classroom teaching basics. Sure, no one can teach them what to do in every situation. That can never be done.
The closest thing? The Field Training Officer. For those that are not familiar with that term, a Field Training Officer (FTO) is the first officer the new recruit is assigned to upon employment. Most agencies have the recruit go through several FTOs during the initial training period. The FTO is a seasoned officer chosen by the department to train the recruit to be an officer. How? He takes the recruit through a curriculum while learning the ropes first hand. Besides that, the FTO shows the recruit how to be an officer. What does that mean? That means that the FTO is given free reign to make an officer out of the recruit.
So, that is how we ensure the next generation of officers are going to be as good – or better than we were. The FTO is the department’s choice. The charge to the FTO is, “You are the example of the person we want the new guy to be like. Take him (or her) and make an officer.”
The FTO is probably the most influential position at any agency. A lot of responsibility. That is how we pass the torch.
Mike