Chapter 2 34 yearly testing and instead takes place every 6 months. In case a police officer fails the shooting assessment, the officer has to hand in his or her service weapon and successfully repeat the shooting assessment before the weapon is returned and the officer is allowed to patrol the streets again. However, due to resource limitation, such as the need for officers to patrol the streets, other areas of assessment do not have the same consequences as protocol dictates: “What happens if you fail the exam? In those areas, it is checked whether there’s a need for additional training. Often that is the case, and that would also be possible [to take on] for the instructors. But the authorities don’t send people because they have to be on the streets. Then that’s it, the person has deficits, but oh, maybe next year [it will be better].” (TC6) On the other hand, failing certain types of assessments may not have pre-dictated consequences at all: “The physical test is the only thing that hasn’t got consequences. You should get a positive [results], but if you don’t, no problem, you can still be on the street.” (TC1) Delivery of Police Training Role of the Instructor According to the interviewed training coordinators and instructors, police instructors have an essential role in the conceptualization and delivery of a training session. To ensure that trainees learn effectively and efficiently, instructors have a wide range of demanding tasks to fulfill. Across the six interviewed law enforcement agencies, there are differences in tasks that instructors take on. For instance, two law enforcement agencies train their instructors to teach all components of training, whereas the other four law enforcement agencies have instructors that specialize and provide training solely in particular components such as shooting, self-defense, or tactical procedures. Similarly, some instructors specialize in the training of particular trainee groups like police recruits, regular police officers, or specialized teams such as special forces or undercover teams. Independent of any specialization, all interviewed instructors feel a strong sense of responsibility associated with their role as a teacher. Instructors primarily felt that their responsibility in providing the training is to set up each training session with the aim to advance the knowledge and skill of the trainees and to create a safe environment in which trainees can learn:
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