Client Case Studies
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, IN
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) was created on Jan. 1, 2007, by consolidating the Indianapolis Police Department and the law enforcement division of the Marion County Sheriff’s Department. With a headcount of 1,730 personnel, the IMPD’s operational jurisdiction covers 372 square miles and a population of over 850,000.
Challenge
Like many departments, training officers more efficiently was a major priority for the IMPD, said James Cleek, IMPD training commander.
Cleek’s primary motivation in looking for an online training solution was to ensure all personnel completed
8 of 24 hours of mandatory training on the platform. He also needed a better way to quickly distribute general orders across department personnel.
Another concern was the rising costs associated with training. Cleek said it was essential to find a way to provide officers with effective education and training options thus reducing travel time and fuel costs to and from training centers. Cleek also wanted to reallocate the service hours officers spent traveling to and from training, as well as decrease overtime costs.
The cost savings could then be reallocated for other needs within the department, such as purchasing new
equipment.
IMPD turned to PoliceOne Academy to develop a customized training program that could address their goals, including having a training platform available to officers 24/7 accessible from any location and device, including mobile.
PoliceOne Academy, which is certified or accepted for training credit in 37 states, offers convenient, affordable online law enforcement training with more than 1,000 HD training videos and nearly 200 courses. PoliceOne Academy can be used to fulfill all 24 hours of Indiana Law Enforcement Academy annual training requirements.
IMPD uses the Academy for several courses, including topics such as:
• Active Shooter
• Distracted Driving
• Officer Safety
• Response to Mental Illness
Cleek said the department also worked closely with PoliceOne Academy experts to utilize the custom course builder tool for offline training to record and track all of their Use of Force training in 2016. They also used the Academy to create and distribute time-sensitive training on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance to meet a legal requirement.
Supervisors at the department had 30 days to complete the training and achieved compliance in just 10 days. Cleek said the system’s ease of use and seamless deployment to IMPD’s personnel were the main drivers in accomplishing those results.
“The platform not only provided readily accessible training, it also provided a tool by which we could quickly communicate new general orders and design our own training in a system our officers could use around the clock,” Cleek said. “PoliceOne Academy is now the only system we use for sending out all new or
amended general orders.”
Cleek added that PoliceOne Academy is user-friendly, built with the officer in mind and features course content relevant to what officers face in the field.
He also praised the highly responsive customer service and support team of PoliceOne Academy in helping IMPD get up and running quickly.
Results
The department quickly realized the many benefits of choosing PoliceOne Academy’s online training platform to keep officers trained and informed of department messages, policies and lessons. Cleek said the Academy platform was well received by officers, as they could access their training assignments from any device and at the times most convenient to them.
“Since it is online, they can work with the system from any location, 24/7,” he added.
Cleek noted that within a year of using the learning management system the training hours recorded
exceeded 50,000 hours between online course completions and offline course hours documented.
The Academy platform lets administrators set highly customizable deadlines and notifications for all assignments. Cleek found this helpful as it let him set two-week deadlines for each course and meet his goal of getting training done right, but also quickly.
“The deadline created a sense of urgency and as a result officers completed the courses on time or before deadline,” Cleek said.
Cleek also appreciated the ability to quickly provide courses to officers training on scenarios relevant to current events.
“We also are able to respond to ‘happening now’ issues by assigning courses on topics like ambush or active shooter,” he said.
The Academy also removed duplication of efforts and streamlined the process, since all incomplete and completed courses can be tracked and monitored, Cleek added.
Finally, PoliceOne Academy is used to train IMPD Recruits, who are required to be in training for one year, 28 weeks of this in the classroom. In addition, IMPD Recruits complete all courses assigned to the rest of the agency’s officers. This includes pre-assignments for each recruit class, tracking completions and running reports that list all the information Cleek needs about course completion. It was also used for officers who returned to duty from military deployment, sickness or injury to stay well-trained and to quickly get back up to speed.
Cost Savings
Cleek said the training helped the department save substantially—impacting lower fuel costs, reduced overtime, reallocated service hours and reduced brick-and-mortar costs associated with in-person training. He estimated the department saved in excess of $100,000 in the first year, a total Cleek said could actually be much higher since it “doesn’t account for fuel saved or overtime.”
Conclusion
IMPD will continue to use PoliceOne Academy for some mandatory subjects in 2017 and 2018, thus freeing up time to complete other critical face-to-face training in response to their current needs. This platform will continue to allow IMPD to seamlessly complete mandatories anywhere, anytime online while they carry out a major mental health training initiative.
Policy Courses Created
Custom Courses Created
2016 Online Training Hours Completed
2016 Offline Training Recorded
Seguin Police Department, TX
Seguin Police Department, located just outside of San Antonio, Texas, has 81 officers using PoliceOne Academy. The department needed a cost-effective way of ensuring new policies and procedures were communicated and implemented correctly. As a premier online training program for law enforcement, PoliceOne Academy provides departments the ability to customize courses to fit specific departmental needs.
Challenge
Seguin Police Department needed an effective way of conducting roll call training, as well as finding training gaps in the department. Most importantly, there was a need to disseminate policies and procedures.
Upon implementation of the Academy, Seguin conducted supervisory and department-wide training using the information from the Academy. Using private courses that are uploaded to the PoliceOne Academy system, Seguin PD was able to assign the below
• New department and state wide policies
• Specialty courses
• State mandated courses made available by the state such as TTY Refresher Training
• The Crime Records (CR) Service Quarterly Newsletters
This provided Seguin PD with a hard record that personnel had reviewed the policy. This is a simple, trackable way to reduce liability and ensure that officers receive updated policies as they become available. In addition to it being a vitally important vehicle for Seguin to disseminate policies and ensure compliance, patrol supervisors also use PoliceOne Academy videos for roll call training.
Results
Primarily, PoliceOne Academy has provided the Seguin PD with an efficient way to send out new and
revised policies and keep track of compliance. The policy portion of the Academy has improved the
effectiveness and efficiency of the entire department.
Custom Policy Courses Created
Policy Courses Taken
Content Quizzes Completed
Training Hours completed
Polk County Sheriff’s Office, FL
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office was looking for a training tool that would deliver daily training in all areas of high liability in a quick (3-5 minute) setting delivered during daily roll call. As a premier online training program for law enforcement, PoliceOne Academy provides departments with a convenient system to conduct and document short-format classroom faciliated video training.
Challenge
Polk County had created their own training system – but had no clear reliable method of delivering video-based training and tracking compliance. The department also needed to resource high-quality training courses and train officers in high liability areas before gaps in training manifested.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd places a large emphasis on the globalization of training. He wanted all agencies in the Polk County jurisdiction to have the same training at their disposal. Upon implementation of the Academy, each district Captain chose seven monthly lesson plans to cover in countywide roll call sessions. Additionally, PoliceOne Academy was able to provide Polk County with an effective way to document their CALEA Accreditation requirement for shift briefing training and other compliance needs.
Results
PoliceOne Academy allows Polk County to deliver high quality, supervisory led training during roll call on all of high-liability subjects for Sheriff’s Office as well as county police departments including Auburndale PD, Davenport PD, Lake Alfred PD, Lake Wales PD, Lakeland PD and Winterhaven PD. This amounts to 1,230 total officers training on a daily basis.
Videos Watched & Quizzes Completed
Hours of Training Completed
Canonsburg Police Department, PA
Canonsburg Police Department is located approximately 15 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Like most of the 2,000 police departments in the state, Canonsburg is a small department with 17 sworn officers. Prior to his appointment, Chief of Police Alexander Coghill served as a criminal investigator and is a 25 year veteran.
Challenge
Following his appointment in January 2015, Chief Al Coghill began exploring options to help solve the training challenges the department faced. According to department officials, budget constraints and manpower issues made consistent training difficult. In the modern era of policework, they said, consistent training is imperative but was occasionally overlooked.
After researching the curriculum, instructors, course content, and case studies, Canonsburg department personnel identified PoliceOne Academy as a valuable training asset. PoliceOne Academy’s solution was simple and cost-effective. With the Academy, every month the Chief assigns officers 4 to 8 hours of online training through PoliceOneAcademy.com. Every officer receives the same training and time is set aside on their regular 12 hour shifts to complete the training.
Results
Before PoliceOne Academy, the department went through an arduous process of selecting a training vendor for each core competency and mandated course. The department would then spend approximately $45 per hour to send an officer to training after including transportation and overtime costs. According to department personnel, in this situation the department struggled to keep training at acceptable levels of consistency and quality. After Canonsburg PD substitutes much of its in-person training for equivalent online courses, this 17-strong police department will save over $20,000 in the next 10 years in training costs.
Update: Summer 2015
In this Observer-Reporter article by Kathie Warco, forward-thinking Canonsburg Police Department was recognized for their use of online courses for mandated training. Among those quoted is Mayor David Rhome, who said the training would save the borough thousands of dollars per year. He added, “There are a lot of police departments that need this training. With 23,000 certified local police officers in the state, the savings could be significant for municipalities.”