By Ryan Carter, Photo by Scott Roby
Training officer David Kleinfeld, left, watches trainee Stephen Turner do a visual inspection of their car before going on patrol.
Training specialists for new recruits, transfers bolster numbers with influx of more officers.
For the Police Department's field training officers, their patrol cars and city streets are the classroom, and that space has become even more crowded with several new recruits graduating from the police academy.
The recruits and transfers from other agencies partner with the training officers in their fledgling months as they learn about other nuances of the patrol beat in Burbank. It is instruction that recruits can't get at the academy and skills that will help define the department's relationship with the city in the next 30 years, Capt. Larry Koch said.
They teach field work such as report writing, traffic-stop protocol, communicating on local radio frequencies and their own special knowledge of police work unique to the city.
They are the ones who train new officers, from new recruits who don't know anything about police work to department transfer who know a lot about the department they came from noting about ours." said Lt. Janice Lowers, who supervises the department's recruiting efforts.
And in a time when the department is beefing up its recruiting efforts, the officers, who receive special schooling themselves, are even more significant. The four officers assigned to the full-time duty have been supplemented by five temporary trainers in order to work with nine trainees. As new graduates apply, even more trainers might be needed.
"It's because we have such a glut of recruits and we aren't going to have two recruits in one car." - Lt. Chris Welker
The officers seem to be embracing the challenge.
"I just had an interest in training and teaching," said Det. David Kleinfeld, an 11-year department veteran, reflecting on why he has been a training officer for more than two years. "I felt I had some ideas or experience to offer the new people."
But when trainees ride with Kleinfeld, they had better be prepared for a pop quiz about aspects of their new job. "If they don't get it right, "I'll encourage them to study again," he said.