Lincolnshire Police TAP out the beat
Force Training Manager Alison Coupland has been explaining how Lincolnshire Police have addressed their requirement for enhanced and refreshed skills in training design and learning facilitation.
Lincolnshire Police has a very clear statement of purpose which sets out the 4 principles upon which the force works:-
• To reduce crime - tackling crime and the causes of crime.
• To reduce the fear of crime - providing reassurance to the people of Lincolnshire.
• To increase public safety - working towards safer communities.
• To contribute to the service of justice - helping to secure a fair and effective criminal justice system.
The personnel responsible for addressing these key challenges have to be trained to the highest standard. The responsibility of managing the development and delivery of this training provision falls on the shoulders of force Training Manager Alison Coupland, her assistant Andrea Garnett and a dedicated team of training specialists.
The demands of new legislation and changes in policy and procedure continually create new challenges for all police training functions. Alison's training team is made up of a combination of experienced Police officers fulfilling a training role and Police staff directly employed as trainers.
The remit of the team covers all aspects of police activity, ranging from induction to mandatory refresher training and from soft skills to firearms training.
Lincolnshire Police has a good track record in providing staff with opportunities for professional development.
Trainers within the department have traditionally undertaken Instructor training courses offered by the Central Police Training and Development Authority (Centrex) or third party courses leading to externally recognised qualifications.
Alison identified a requirement for enhanced and refreshed skills in training design and facilitation and began to look for appropriate mechanisms to provide this.
Lincolnshire Police has a strong culture of evaluation to ensure that best value and quality are both achieved. Alison was therefore seeking a skills development solution that would offer Return on Investment in a tangible way and which was based on best value principles.
Alison met with The Training Foundation's Justice Sector Manager Frank Porter in early 2004 and began investigating the use of The Trainer Assessment Programme (TAP®) as an alternative strategy for trainer training and development.
It quickly became apparent to Alison that TAP® offered a viable alternative to previous arrangements by providing a focused and modular method of refreshing the skills of experienced trainers.
Furthermore it would provide a rapid and flexible means of providing appropriate externally recognised qualifications for new members of the training team. This proved very attractive at a time when the team was going through rapid
change.
The Training Foundation provided a number of on-site courses leading to the TAP® Certificate in Training Delivery Skills at the force headquarters complex at Lincoln.
From the outset these courses were very well received and enthusiasm for ongoing development grew rapidly even among the more conservative members of the training team.
The courses were evaluated by the Force Evaluation Team and their report was fed back to Alison. The independent evaluation was positive.
This was encouraging for Alison as she was making a bold move to step away from the traditional trainer development model and try something very different. Feedback from the training personnel gave a clear indication of the team's enthusiasm for TAP®.
Alison commented: "I was amazed at the change in some of the staff who were very resistant at the outset and had been instructing for a number of years.
They told me that for the first time that they were training not instructing!" Lincolnshire Police are now looking at further development options for their training team and some have already started to work towards
achievement of the TAP® Diploma in Learning Facilitation Skills.
Other members of the regional force family are also adopting TAP® as their preferred trainer development ethodology.
The overall amount of trainer time spent away from forces has been greatly reduced because TAP® courses can be delivered by The Training Foundation in local premises. This is emerging as a key factor leading to the widespread adoption of the Trainer Assessment Programme across the UK
police service.
Additionally the fact that TAP® qualifications are externally certificated by Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) recognised awarding bodies represents a significant benefit for members of the training team and a reassurance for senior managers with an interest in optimising training quality.
Alison and her team are now settling down to a structured development programme based on the TAP® methodology, building a team that has all the requisite skills to train members of the force in a wide range of disciplines to meet the demands faced by Lincolnshire Police.