Dallas Police Academy Basic Training Unit Public Safety Committee

March 26, 2012

www.dallaspolice.net David O. Brown Chief Of Police

The Purpose of this briefing:

• Describe how the Dallas Police Academy, Basic Training Unit transitions civilians into Sworn Peace Officers

• Describe how the Dallas Police Academy far exceeds state requirements related to training peace officers

• Describe the phases of Basic Training

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Goals of the Dallas Police Academy

• Continue to provide the best training for Dallas Police Recruits

• Maintain the high standards of Excellence required of the recruits, by the Dallas Police Academy

• Maintain the historical high passing rate required for State of Texas Academic licensing

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STAFF

• Basic Training Staff – Defensive Tactics Training

• 1 Sergeant (SGT) and 6 Senior Corporals (SC)

– Reality Based Training • 1 SGT and 6 SC’s

– Class Coordinators • 1 SGT and 4 SC’s

– Education and Administrative Staff • 1 LT, 1 SC, and 2 Civilian

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STAFF • Staff supports the:

– Junior Police Academy

– Citizens Police Academy

– Reserve Battalion

• Defensive Tactics Training and Reality Based Training staff provide training to In-Service Officers – CORE

– Community Policing

– Every Day is a Training Day

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Basic Training

• Each class is 35½ weeks in length

• Each class receives a minimum of 1344 training hours or 168 training days

• Training is divided into 3 Phases – Phase 1 – Week 0 through Week 1

– Phase 2 – Week 2 through Week 24

– Phase 3 – Week 25 through Week 35

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Phase 1 of Basic Training • Human Resources’ payroll and benefits

processing

• Classes taught to all new city employees – Defensive Driving

– Drugs in the Workplace

– Violence in the Workplace

– Sexual Harassment

• Code of Conduct and General Orders of the Dallas Police Department

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Phase 2- TCLEOSE Phase • TCLEOSE- Texas Commission of Law Enforcement Officer

Standards and Education

• TCLEOSE’s Basic Peace Officer Course (BPOC) is 618 hours

• BPOC is taught to all peace officers in the Sate of Texas – State Troopers

– Parks and Wildlife

– County Sheriff’s, Deputies, Constables, etc

– City Police

– City Marshalls

– Fire Department Arson Investigators

– Hospital and Mass Transit Police and any other Peace Officer

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Phase 2 – TCLEOSE Phase

• State of Texas requires a minimum of 618 hours to be taught

• Many community colleges, regional academies and smaller departments teach only the minimum requirement

• Dallas Police Recruit Officers receive a minimum of 1,344 hours, 726 hours over minimum requirement

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Phase 2 – TCLEOSE Phase

• Curriculum also includes law classes in: – US & Texas Constitutions and Bill of Rights

– Code of Criminal Procedure

– Penal Code

– Arrest, Search and Seizure

– Traffic Code

– Alcoholic Beverage Code

– Health and Safety Code – Drugs

– Family Code 10

Phase 2 – TCLEOSE Phase

• Curriculum also includes: – Fitness and Wellness and Stress Management

– Professionalism and Ethics

– Civil Process

– Written Communications

– Spanish

– Professional Police Driving

– Hazardous Materials Awareness

– Criminal Investigations 11

Phase 3 Training – DPD Phase • DPD specific training

– TCLEOSE requires 16 hours of Spanish

– DPD teaches a total of 64 hours of Spanish

• Firearms Training (Total of 81 hours)

• Reality Based Training (RBT) (Total of 154 hours)

• Defensive Tactics (Total of 130 hours)

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Phase 3 Training – DPD Phase • Human Relations

– Communities • Anglo

• African American

• Hispanic

• Native American

• Gay & Lesbian

• Hearing/Visually/Mobility Impaired

– Rape Crisis Intervention

– Racial Profiling

– Human Trafficking and High Risk Victims 13

Phase 3 Training – DPD Phase • Protective Orders and Family Violence

– Genesis Women’s Shelter

• Asset Forfeiture

• Identity Theft

• Helicopter Safety and Landing Zone Procedures provided by CareFlite

• Municipal Court Procedures

• Juvenile Procedures

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Testing • During Phase 2 – recruits are tested

approximately every other week (13-14 total DPD tests)

• Recruits must pass all exams

• Failure of test requires a retest

• Failure of retest results in termination

• Recruits must maintain a 70% average

• Recruits must pass a Final Comprehensive Exam of 200 questions over all of Phase 2 material

• Successful completion is passing TCLEOSE Test

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Testing • TCLEOSE Test given to all peace officer

candidates in the State of Texas

• Must pass with a 70% grade.

• Total of 3 attempts are allowed

• All Academies in the state are evaluated by TCLEOSE based upon their 1st Attempt Pass Rate

• Academies must maintain at least a 80% Pass Rate

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TCLEOSE Test

• Of last 12 DPD Recruit Classes, 10 classes have passed on their first attempts and 2 classes had 1 failure each

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STATE FISCAL YEAR 1ST ATTEMPT PASS RATE - DPD

2008 93.52 %

2009 96.75 %

2010 99.68 %

2011 99.13 %

2012 100.00 %

TCLEOSE Test

• State FY’s 2007 through 2010

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DEPARTMENT # OF TESTS GIVEN 1ST ATTEMPT PASS

RATE

Dallas 1142 96.76 %

Houston 1063 95.17 %

Texas DPS 660 93.48 %

San Antonio 426 92.72 %

Fort Worth 295 94.92 %

ACADEMY ATTRITION

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FY # OF

CLASSES RECRUITS

HIRED RECRUITS

GRADUATED ATTRITION

RATE

2008 8 374 296 20.86 %

2009 9 401 330 17.70 %

2010 6 294 234 20.41 %

2011 1 22 18 18.18 %

2012 5 213

Why do recruits not graduate?

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REASON FOR DEPARTURE PERCENTAGE

Academic Failure 16.19 %

Career Change 2.38 %

Personal Reasons 53.33 %

US Government Position 1.90 %

Other Public Safety Position 1.43 %

Discharge 7.62 %

Transfer to Non-Sworn 0.95 %

Injured during Training 9.05 %

Other Reasons 7.14 %

STAFF AND RECRUITS

• Community Service Projects – Koman Race for the Cure

– White Rock Marathon

– Habitat for Humanity

– Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

– Trinity River Levee Run

– Carter BloodCare

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SUMMARY

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• The Dallas Police Academy is 35½ weeks long.

• The Basic Training Academy supports both Basic and In-Service Training

• The recruits receive over 726 hours of training over the minimum state requirements.

• The recruits receive extensive Community Relations training, i.e. Community Service Projects, Spanish, and Human Relations/Multiculturalism

QUESTIONS?

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