“Day -1, I Was Not Ready to Be An FTO; Day -5, I Feel Prepared.”

  We just completed another Basic FTO Class in Everett, WA. It was great to see representatives with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office back in the class. This was a large class with 28 attendees heading back to their agencies to begin the process of training the next generation of new employees. This was a diverse group made up…

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We Finished Our First Refresher Class of the Year

  This FTO Refresher Class was hosted by the Island County Sheriff’s Office and had 19 attendees from all over the area. Officers from Arlington, Moses Lake, Burlington, Battleground, and Langley Police Departments; and Deputies from Okanogan, Benton, and Island Counties made up the class. The block of instruction which received high praises, not surprisingly, was the SEG review…

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October’s Ouachita Parish Class

October 28th, 2023 It was great to be back at the North Delta Training Academy in West Monroe, Louisiana. I wanted to thank Captain Chris Tolbird for hosting and his assistance in putting this class together. All of the folks working at the Academy (Kim) are of the highest level of professionalism. We truly consider ourselves part of the…

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Have You Heard of This?

If a student officer performs any one task during a shift, and that performance meets the SEG Task Element 1 (Unacceptable), are they rated a 1 for the day for that specific performance? I wanted to address this issue as I have been hearing this question from several attendees during our FTO (field training officer) classes. The short answer…

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Another Everett, WA FTO Class in the Books

Shane Hawley teaching some students at the Field Training Officer (FTO) Refresher Class in Everett, WA during late September, 2023.   On September 29th, 27 students completed our 40-hour Basic FTO Class in Everett, WA. We were excited to have 10 different agencies send their trainers in our class. Those agencies included Lynnwood, Edmonds, Redmond, Bellevue, Marysville Police Departments. Tribal…

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Another FTO Refresher Class in the Books!

We were extremely excited to have the opportunity to recently present our Field Training Officer (FTO) Refresher Class in Lynnwood, WA. Having worked 25 years for the Lynnwood Police Department, I was able to reunite with many old friends. Those who attended the class were all very experienced FTOs. We were able to discuss and address some of the…

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