Community Policing Defined

**8 hours VA CPS credit**
 
Community Policing Defined is an interactive online course designed to provide participants with a basic awareness and understanding of the fundamental principles and best practices of community policing.  Based on the Department of Justice, COPS Office publication of the same name, Community Policing Defined not only describes the practice of community policing but also examines how it can be effectively applied.

Comprised of four modules, the course explores partnerships, problem solving and organizational transformation as they relate to specific issues and challenges facing today’s law enforcement professionals and the communities they serve.  As such it is a valuable and appropriate training opportunity for a wide variety of law enforcement and public-safety professionals, ranging from new hires to experienced personnel, as well as community leaders, business owners and other community stakeholders.

Utilizing a blended learning approach, Community Policing Defined prompts users to actively navigate through the course’s comprehensive content which includes on-screen text, graphics and narration.  This design feature allows adult learners the flexibility to determine their own pace and sequence for completing the course.  Although Community Policing Defined requires a minimum of 4 hours of uninterrupted run-time, participants should expect to spend between 8 and 12 hours to complete the course.

Navigating the Leadership Challenge

pending 16 hours VA DCJS in-service career development credits 

“There comes a time in every man’s life when he is called upon to do something very special; something for which he and only he has the capabilities, has the skills, and has the necessary training.  What a pity if the moment would find him unprepared.” 
                                                                              - Sir Winston Churchill

Navigating the Leadership Challenge (NLC) is not your typical leadership course. As you charge across the battlefield in Gettysburg in 1863, sink an entire naval fleet in 1940, and turn a failing business into a thriving enterprise in a time when the rest of the country is sinking into the Great Depression, you will gain the leadership skills and perspectives you need to navigate your way through your own, current-day leadership challenges.  Navigating these challenges can be daunting, but with the right skills and framework, leaders can prepare for not just the day-to-day challenges associated with being a leader, but also for those moments that demand the most of our leadership abilities.

Are you prepared for those moments?  Are you able to quickly shift your leadership style depending on the situation?  Can you manage meaning in your communications when everyone else is looking to you for direction?  When the obstacles and challenges are stacking up, are you overwhelmed or do you have the skills to turn those obstacles into opportunities?  NLC can prepare you for all of this and more.

Perhaps most importantly, NLC provides leaders with a framework for making decisions in their leadership roles both on a daily basis and in critical events.  Making a difficult decision doesn’t have to leave you second-guessing at two in the morning.  NLC includes a self-directed decision making guideline for the worst critic of your decisions: yourself.

Developing leadership skills is an ongoing learning process.  Navigating the Leadership Challenge is a 2-day course designed to launch life-long learning habits, the perspective necessary to extract leadership lessons from events all around us, and to trigger those applicable and personal “ah-ha” leadership moments in each of us, regardless of formal position or assignment.

Performance Coaching, Counseling & Disciplinary Action

This 2½ day course examines successful personnel management through the principles of motivation, coaching, and progressive discipline.  It is based upon the premise that, when applied properly and consistently, coaching may serve to minimize the need for counseling and disciplinary action.

The course looks specifically at mastering the "Nuts & Bolts" of Personnel Management:

• Hire and Retain the Right People Through Mentoring and Succession Planning
• Active Listening with Supportive and Corrective Feedback
• Implement Strategies to Improve Productivity and Morale
• Conduct Meaningful Coaching/Counseling Interviews
• How to Be a Skilled, Assertive Leader Who Effectively Confronts Negative Behavior and Performance Issues
• Define, Recognize, and Respond to Harassment Before You are in Court
• Conduct Fair and Effective Workplace Investigations
• Develop a Working Knowledge of Federal Employment Laws and Statutes Related to Employee Discipline and Termination

Managers and supervisors will leave this training with proven strategies to motivate, coach, and when necessary, administer disciplinary action while maintaining the professionalism of the organization and dignity of the employee.

Polishing the Badge: Leading and Influencing for Optimal Employee Performance

A successful career in public safety requires taking the time to polish our badges; removing the tarnish that settles on our thoughts and processes.  This 8-hour course will provide an overview of several proven strategies to implement change initiatives within your organization, as well as guidance in effectively motivating employees who may have become beat up, drawn out and cynical.

Effective public-safety supervisors and managers are capable of leading and influencing those within their command to attain the goals and objectives of the organization. Leading and influencing can be accomplished by individuals in both formal and informal leadership positions; this is the foundation for the leadership philosophy: leadership at all levels.

This interactive course addresses the following topics to enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes for maximum team performance:
• Creating an Empowering Organization
• Learning to Cross the Line - Building Organizational Trust
• 360 Degree Leadership - Leading from the Middle
• The Power of Paradigms
• Sources of Employee Misery
• Front Line Leadership - Where it Matters Most
• Polishing the Badge - Personality vs Character
• Focusing on the Organizational Spirit
• The Power of a Belief System - Beliefs Drive Performance
• Organizational/Personal Goal Setting and Creating a Vision
• Leading in Challenging Times

"One of the best leadership classes I have taken and I have been through a bunch."

"My personal goal was to re-energize and re-focus my zeal to be a police leader and to come away with some ideas/concepts that I could use for my division or my department.  This course met and exceeded my goals."

Click here to view course instructor bio.

Check the Training Calendar for course availability and location information.

Rapid Risk Assessment and Situational Awareness

This one-day course provides an introduction to the principles of rapid violence risk assessment and situational awareness for patrol officers, deputies and other public-safety personnel.  By increasing the recognition of violence risk, officers can choose appropriate strategies that enhance their safety, as well as that of protectees, co-workers and the public. This process of risk assessment can also be applied to other risk situations, such as safety, operations and individual and organizational integrity. 

Through interactive activities and discussions related to increasing situational awareness and recognizing and assessing various forms of risk, participants will be introduced to the principles of rapid risk assessment, situational awareness, and application in the operational environment.  Particular attention is paid to the introduction to and recognition of pre-incident indicators of violent behavior carried out by perpetrators of acts of targeted violence. Examples discussed will include incidents of targeted violence and assassinations.

Finally, participants are introduced to a practical approach for quickly identifying the type of behavior of concern and what next steps they should consider in managing the situation.

By the end of this training session, participants will be able to:

• Explain the role and importance of rapid risk assessment to officers
• Define risk assessment terms
• Identify behaviors of concern from potential aggressors
• Explain the four-part rapid risk assessment
• Explain situational awareness
• Explain the information factor in situational awareness
• Explain risk factors and risk reduction strategies
• Identify behaviors that show aggression
• Explain environmental factors in situational awareness
• Explain personal factors in situational awareness
• Explain organizational factors in situational awareness
• Explain risk management strategies
• Apply rapid risk assessment process