VIRTUAL POLICE TRAINING - 5 FAQ

It does not take a psychic or even that guy who stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night to understand that the future of police training is going to rely more and more on online training options. Virtual training does NOT replace all training, it is a supplement to already established training programs. The right program will save training budgets, travel budgets, and manpower hours, hours that can be repurposed for what else, but more training.?Maybe training that an agency has wanted to invest in but never had time or room in the budget to do before.?

A training coordinator in Tarrant County, TX recently told me that the biggest benefit of virtual training for them is they no longer have to spend instructor time on the repetitive standardized training, but they now have time to focus on training that they have always wanted to provide but never had time to before. The following are some frequently asked questions regarding virtual training I am asked.

1.??????Does online training report to POST, TCOLE or to the state licensing agency?

Most of the time online training is acceptable as long as the training courses follow the guidelines of that particular state in meeting the learning objectives, state requirements that qualify the instructor, and the provider is approved by the state board.?Some states do not recognize online training yet, but those states are the exception, not the rule.

2.?????Is it?death by PowerPoint??

Sometimes it is, unfortunately. Powerpoint is a simple, inexpensive way to present training in a virtual setting.?Although, most people find training presented 100% by PowerPoint insanely boring in a virtual setting.?If you spend some time researching online providers you will find a few, like?Virtual Academy, that avoids powerpoint and focus on quality training that is state-approved, thoughtful, relevant, and interesting.

3.?????Is there technical support available??

This depends completely on the provider.?Most of the time there is a contact that you can call for help with technical issues.?A lot of providers are smaller organizations that do not have the capacity to have an IT division staffed 24/7 to help with issues that are sure to come up. When doing your research into the different providers this is a key issue that must be considered.?If an officer has been assigned training, he is trying to complete it at 0200 hours, and there is an IT issue, what does he/she do??At best the training is going to be delayed if there is no one to reach out to for help. At present, the only provider I am aware of that provides 24/7 technical support is Virtual Academy.

4.?????Are the instructors qualified?

When looking into a provider for training this is a question that must be asked and well explained.?Who is teaching the classes??What are the qualifications??What makes them an expert??Different online providers use different instructors.?They do not draw from the same pool.?A quality provider will be able to demonstrate the experience, training, education, and other qualifications that certify the instructor is an expert on the subject matter.?Be wary of a provider that does not provide detailed information on the instructors to prove they are qualified to teach.

5.?????How expensive is online training?

This is probably the second most asked question after “is it accepted by the state licensing agency”? The cost of online training can be expensive and it depends a lot on what you are looking for.?There are providers that pay by the course for instance a single class for one student might cost $50.00.?Not too bad, but if you need to send 5-10 new officers to attend the same class it just got pricey.?Even still, if you need to send your entire department to a state-mandated course it just got very expensive.?Other providers offer a subscription/annual fee for all the training that they offer or offer packages of particular training courses, which will usually be more affordable in the long run as long as the training is such that officers will benefit from it.

FULL DISCLOSURE

I am a retired police administrator; training coordinator and I am currently the TCOLE training coordinator in Texas for?Virtual Academy.?Virtual Academy?is a 100% online training provider.?Therefore, this is an easy topic for me to talk about, and will be happy to visit with anyone interested in online law enforcement training as an option to their training program.?