Officer Training

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Training of SCPD Officers

Before becoming an officer, recruits must attend and successfully graduate from California Peace Officer Standards, and Training (POST) certified police academy.

Academy trainees train eight hours a day, five days a week, for six months. This equates to a total of 1,046 hours of training in various topics including, but not limited to:

Becoming an Exemplary Peace Officer
Professionalism and Ethics
Cultural Diversity
Principled Policing in the Community
Crisis Intervention Techniques
De-escalation During Law Enforcement Encounters
Use of Force
Laws of Arrest
Law of Search and Seizure
Awareness and Engaging People with Disabilities
Anti-Discrimination
Link to the State of California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training website for the specific courses and actual textbooks academy students study.

SCPD Field Training Program

After successfully completing the police academy, new officers begin work at the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD), starting in the Field Training Officer (FTO) Program. SCPD's Field Training and Evaluation program is an 18-week intensive on-the-job training program. New officers receive daily performance evaluations and must meet specific performance standards before being certified for solo patrol duty. The training are conducted by field training officers (FTO), an FTO Sergeant, and an FTO Lieutenant.

Ongoing POST Training

Above and Beyond POST Standards

In an effort to go above the State standard, SCPD officers receive ongoing and regular training in Tactical Communication and De-escalation. We accomplish this by incorporating these topics into a variety of other regular SCPD training such as, Reality Based Scenario training, On-Duty Scenario training, Range training, Defensive Tactics training, and Crisis Intervention Techniques training, and De-escalation training. All of our trainers are certified and considered experts in their field.

Crisis Intervention Training & Recognizing Implicit Bias Training

All SCPD officers are certified in Crisis Intervention Techniques that specifically address how officers interact and communicate with individuals in a mental crisis or with a mental disorder. Additionally, all SCPD officers are trained in recognizing implicit bias and preventing racial profiling. SCPD conducts multiple scenario-based trainings throughout the year that test officers' ability to de-escalate situations and make good critical decisions.

Here are just a few of the training topics SCPD officers receive on a regular basis:

Crisis Intervention Technique training
Recognizing Implicit Bias
Preventing Racial Profiling
Procedural Justice
Tactical Communication
Engaging with People with Disabilities
Recognizing Excited Delirium
Decision Making Under Stress and Time Compressed Encounters
De-escalation
Defensive Tactics
Use of Force training
Reality Based Scenario training
Policy training
Case Law and Legal Authority training
Emergency Vehicle and Operation training

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Training of SCPD Officers

Here are just a few of the training topics SCPD officers receive on a regular basis: