Chapter 2 32 Training Components To ensure that police officers continue to be well prepared for any on-duty incidents, law enforcement agencies provide training content that ensures that officers have the knowledge and skill to resolve situations they encounter on duty. The common training components discussed by all six law enforcement agencies include weapon handling, shooting, self-defense, arresting skills, tactical procedures (such as tactical movements during a building search), and communication. However, the way these components are trained differs across agencies. For instance, one law enforcement agency structures their formal yearly training content into five modules (one module for each training day), where three modules focus on the training of practical skills like weapon handling and shooting, equipment handling (e.g., multipurpose baton, taser), and tactical procedures and movements. The other two modules consist of scenario-based training relating to the yearly training focus. In contrast, within the mandatory structure of spending a minimum of 6 h per month on practical skills (e.g., handcuffing, selfdefense, use of force), another agency lets the unit leader of each police unit dictate the training components based on the needs of his or her officers. According to training coordinators and instructors, using scenario-based training is seen as the most holistic and effective form of training. Scenario-based training is implemented in the delivery of training in each of the interviewed law enforcement agencies. Instructors make use of scenario training to combine training components: “The scenarios and role-play, everything of police training goes into it. So, you have two guns, you have knives, you have persons, cars and they have to act like they are on the street. And so that’s everything. When you are on the shooting range, you only shoot. When you are in the dojo, you only fight. But in the role plays, you do everything and it’s more complete.” (I4) The integration of stress inoculation training and decision-making is for most training coordinators and instructors an important part of these role-plays. Instructors use scenario trainings and role-plays to increase stress resilience of trainees and prepare them for stressful encounters on duty: “The trainees are prepared for [stressful situation] through specific scenario trainings in which [instructors] play with the stress. [Instructors] see how the trainees feel and control the stress. For those who can take it better, you go a little higher. The instructors can do that. You can actively increase [the stress] a bit or flatten it a bit, if you notice
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