20 students from Corrections and the patrol side of the house joined us for our first class of 2026 at the Bellingham Washington Police Station on January 19-23. This group was extremely engaged, which resulted in many great conversations. I found myself so excited that I started telling too many stories (which one student noted on the eval) and was distracted from the course material. I appreciate the comment and will do best to keep the stories to a minimum.
As with many of the classes I have taught, it is surprising that some of the attendees are not familiar with the SEGs and how the evaluation process is supposed to occur. These same attendees say their agency utilizes the San Jose Model of field training, and have received DORs. After completing our course, these students say they now have a much better understanding of the evaluation process. They realize the importance of knowing their agency’s evaluation system, be it a computerized program or the old fashion handwritten DOR. Just as important, after going through several student officer scenarios, they seize the need to be familiar with the performance criteria as outlined in the appropriate SEG.
In short, FTOs must be familiar with their Daily Observation Report Forms as well as the SEGs. As mentioned in class, the one thing we cannot teach our students is experience. Similarly, new FTOs lack experience in evaluating and documenting the performance of their students. It takes practice.
A great way to start is knowing what’s on your DOR, and being very familiar with your SEGs. Don’t wait until you are assigned a new student officer before you refresh yourself on this process.
Based on the comments from this group, I believe they are off to a great start. Here are few of those comments:
- “I wish I had taken this class before I started doing any FTO work. I am leaving this class with a clear understanding on how to use the SEG book. To end my comments, I would like to add: this class was ‘bitchin!’”
- “Great work! I truly enjoyed the group exercise utilizing the SEGs and wish we had more of that.”
- “It obvious the instructor was well versed in the material and cared about it. I left this class feeling motivated to put it into practice.”
- “This course gave me the motivation to get out and teach the next generation of law enforcement.”
- “Outstanding class. I will be applying what I learned as I begin to train new hires.”
- “Amazing class!”
- “The instructor was very energetic, easy to listen to, kept the class engaged.”
David Harris and Associates look forward to what the rest of the classes for 2026 will bring! Before signing off, I would like to share this page with you that has a list of upcoming classes. You can read about the different class types we offer by clicking here. We also welcome class host ideas, so if you would like to host a class, please fill out this form, contact us at 425-426-6350, or email us at ftoschool@gmail.com. Also, if you would like to see more class testimonials, we have gathered many over the years to share with you. We also have some instructor bios that might interest you.
Don’t hesitate to reach out!
Sgt. David J. Harris (Ret)
