NCJ Number
225238
Date Published
2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes the development of the Reno Police Training Officer (PTO) model for post-academy training and employs adult learning techniques and incorporates problem solving as a fundamental aspect of the program.
Abstract
The Reno program is based on the PBL teaching model and emphasizes the need for the police training officer (PTO) to function primarily as a trainer. PBL is a contemporary training model used in the military, education, community development, and medical arenas. The focus is that students train to help people get better or stay healthy. This is prevention, a concept typically ignored in the past by the medical and policing fields. The Reno model is flexible and ensures that agencies personalize the program to their individual needs and capabilities. Under this model, trainers assign “street” problems to trainees and have them learn about policing in the context of solving those problems. Trainees work through responses with their PTOs help. Based on survey results, the Reno model is structured around Four Modes of Policing: Patrol Activities, Nonemergency Response, Emergency Response, and Criminal Investigations. Traditional models of police training based primarily on evaluation and litigation concerns have served law enforcement well enough over the last three decades, but they no longer meet the needs of contemporary policing. PBL models have been successfully used in many fields of study to enhance learning and performance and are well suited for police post-academy training. Table