Shakopee Police Department 2021 Annual Report

2021 ANNUAL REPORT | POLICE DEPARTMENT | SHAKOPEE, MN

Training

By Sgt. Derek Nordtvedt

The dynamic nature of law enforcement requires continual training and education to ensure high quality service from professional service providers The Shakopee Police Department recognizes that its most important asset is its human resource Therefore the Shakopee Police Department is committed to providing training and continuing education for its employees to ensure quality service to the public The Shakopee Police Department conducts officer training through the field training process, roll call training, in-service training, specialized training and advanced training

FIELD TRAINING The field training process is the proving ground for newly hired officers It is a 16-week training program where new recruits must display a demonstrated ability to perform specific job functions The field training process is akin to an apprenticeship and is accomplished in-house ROLL-CALL TRAINING Roll-call training is offered just prior to, or after, an officer’s tour of duty Roll-call training is short in duration, and is a valuable means of keeping officers updated on procedural changes IN-SERVICE TRAINING In-service training is periodic refresher training offered by the department It is usually designed to train specific job functions or re-qualify and re-test specific job skills The Shakopee Police Department relies on in-service training to accomplish Minnesota PO S T Board learning objectives and meet the ongoing education mandates of the PO S T Board In most cases, instructors for in-service training are those trained by the department to a certified “instructor” level SPECIALIZED TRAINING Specialized training is offered to enhance skills, knowledge and abilities beyond the recruit or in-service level of training Specialized training may address supervisory, management or executive development training and it may also include technical job-specific subjects (homicide investigation, crime scene processing, etc ) Specialized training has been offered at all levels of rank within the Shakopee Police Department Specialized training is assigned based on departmental need, availability of budgeted funds and staffing considerations Requests for specialized training are reviewed, and must be unanimously approved by the scheduling sergeant, the sergeant designated as training coordinator and the Services Division Captain ADVANCED TRAINING Advanced training is often held outside of the agency and designed to impart higher level supervisory and management skills to participants Examples of advanced training programs are those provided by the FBI National Academy, the Southern Police Institute and the Northwestern University Traffic Institute Participants for advanced training must receive the

nomination from the chief of police and their nomination is forwarded to the city administrator CONTINUING EDUCATION Continuing Education is offered through the city’s tuition reimbursement program Full time employees are eligible for tuition reimbursement of up to $3,000 per calendar year MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING AND DE-ESCALATION TRAINING Law enforcement officers are usually the first people called to help with someone having a mental health crisis We encourage our officers to take a more specialized 40-hour MNCIT course This training provides officers with different techniques for how to talk to people during these mental health crises We send all newly hired Shakopee officers to this 40-hour training Along with the mental health training, all officers are also encouraged to attend a de-escalation training This training teaches different techniques on how to communicate with people and read their reactions with the goal of a nonphysical resolution Officers are taught not only to clearly communicate with the person, but also actively listen When done properly, de-escalation can help calm a situation down without anyone getting hurt Since 2018, MN PO S T Board now requires all police officers to attend 16 hours of crisis response, conflict management and cultural diversity training every three years In July 2021, the MN PO S T Board updated the 16 hours of crisis response/conflict management and cultural diversity training by getting more specific on hours required for certain topics Officers now need to have a minimum of four hours of autism training, minimum of six hours for crisis intervention and mental illness crisis training and any combination of six hours of cultural diversity, crisis response, conflict management and autism The beginning of 2021 started where 2020 left off as far as making it difficult to have in-person trainings We had officers do a lot of online or virtual trainings to keep up on our requirements As 2021 continued, we were able to do more in-person trainings by the end of the year Like everyone else this year, we are continually evaluating month to month on how to keep officers healthy and the need to keep up on our training requirements

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