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| On the Blocks – Training days past and present |
| By Brian Dawe |
| Published: 05/14/2007 |
Editor's Note: Brian Dawe pens his thoughts each month in his Corrections.com column "On the Blocks." “CO Dawe reporting for duty.” “Dawe you got unit 4-3. You know how to get there?” “Yes, sir, but what do I do?” “Do you know how to use a phone?” “Yes, sir.” “You’ll be fine.” It was 1982 and my first day as a CO working at the largest medium security prison in Massachusetts. I had just completed two weeks of “training”, the majority of which centered around not getting fired; don’t take sick leave, don’t come in late, don’t ask stupid questions, read your post orders and policies, obey orders, keep you’re gig line straight and your uniform sharp. There was little else except for the mandatory firearms qualification, half a day of self-defense training and an hour or so on working with restraint equipment. Primarily we studied policy and procedure so as to not expose the state to any unnecessary liability. Here I was going into a profession where everyday 88 officers are assaulted, where communicable disease is three to five times higher than on the streets, where I was to be in control of 40 – 44 convicted felons with no weapon and not even a radio to call for help. I remember thinking when that huge metal door slammed shut behind me as I went through the sally port, “what the hell am I doing here?” Back in 1982, the Massachusetts Department of Correction had a four to seven week training academy - except the trainees didn’t get to go. The Department wanted to see who washed out before they would invest the $10,000 to $15,000 they estimated it cost to train an officer at the Academy. I wonder how many potentially good officers they lost who might have stayed on and made a career of corrections if they had been properly trained from the onset? Thankfully in most jurisdictions around the country today, scenarios like this are rare. Although many issues impact the level of safety and security behind the walls of our nation’s prisons and jails, three components are critical to maintaining control: inmate-to-officer staffing ratios; the level of experience of security staff; and the amount and quality of training they receive. There may be other elements that also play substantial rolls in securing our facilities but from an officer’s viewpoint none are more important than these. One of the biggest problems faced in correctional training is a lack of consistency. For instance pre-service training hours, the amount of hours provided before an individual is allowed unsupervised control, custody and care of an inmate ranges from 640 hours in Michigan to 80 in Maine, with the average being 280 hours. In service training, (the training you are required to perform on an annual basis,) ranges from 80 hours in Kansas to a mere 8 in Wyoming, with a national average of 37 hours per year. To address some of these inconsistencies members of Corrections USA - a national nonprofit coalition of the nation’s Corrections professionals - sought to establish guidelines for an Apprenticeship Training program. In 1997, after months of negotiating with the United States Department of Labor, the program was announced. As fast as their hopes had risen, they were dashed. Even though the program merely established voluntary guidelines, the DOL received numerous complaints from state Departments of Correction that the guidelines where too stringent and the program was shelved. Undeterred, CUSA established a national training committee, the purpose of which is to seek out practical hands on training, test the latest in equipment and to make those results available to COs across the country. All products and training endorsed by CUSA are only done so after line officers have done the testing or participated in the training. CUSA also has a policy of not accepting any funds or other compensation for any product or organization they endorse. Too many times endorsements are tainted with self interest making them meaningless. One area that CUSA felt had to be addressed was that of staff assaults - the number and severity of which continues to rise. We decided to take a look at what was available in terms of self-defense training. We were looking for something innovative, relatively easy to learn with limited liability exposure that had a practical application behind the walls. With little consistency from department to department relative to what equipment is provided staff (some have side handle batons, some do not; some have chemical agents others have none) we wanted a program that was hands on and could be universally applied regardless of the equipment an officer had been issued, we found it. After watching an amazing demonstration at a CUSA conference in Albany, New York, twelve officers from around the country went to New Jersey to be trained in Compliance, Direction and Takedown, which is non-deadly, self-defense training that any officer can learn and master with relative ease. CDT is used by numerous law enforcement agencies, and thousands of police and correctional officers have been trained to use it. There may be other effective methods, but we doubt any are more effective for a correctional environment. I know that during my 16 years as a state CO I wish we had been CDT trained; there would have been a lot fewer staff and inmate injuries if we had all been properly trained. Training needs to be constantly upgraded as new techniques and ideas come to the forefront. Hands on, self defense training is all too often reserved for our elite response teams. It should be part of the annual in-service training requirement. When an officer receives quality practical training they feel confident in their abilities when they go to work each day. That confidence shows, and the inmate population feels it too. It’s unfortunate that today in corrections so many advances in training will never see the light of day as a result of the proprietary interests of less insightful department heads. We should be sharing training ideas not hiding them. Brian Dawe is co-founder of the American Correctional Officer Intelligence Network. He also is a founding member of Corrections USA and served as their Executive Director until August, 2006. He has been in corrections for more than 24 years, and served as a Massachusetts CO from 1982 to 1998. Dawe co-founded the Massachusetts Correctional Officers Federated Union where he served on the statewide Executive Board for nine years, and served as Grievance Coordinator, Executive Secretary and Vice President. |
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