There needs to be a mixed approach to training new officers, with more of an emphasis on practical skills, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
His comments came after the College of Policing surveyed new recruits and found that only half or fewer of the respondents reported being satisfied with the overall education and training they had received. Less than half of respondents agreed that the education and training prepared them for the role.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cI\u2019m a big believer in having a mixed approach in terms of how we train officers. The obsession with degrees only is nonsense. We have to have a mixed basis for those entering the police and for the training, and it has to be more practical than academic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a place for academic work. When I joined the job 22 years ago, you needed to learn the law, you needed to be articulate enough to formulate and write statements. But the practical skills are how you deal with members of the public, how you deal with conflict, how you deal with violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m not saying there isn\u2019t a route for degree entry. There are pathways for future leaders, for detectives, for specialists, where degrees are helpful. If we\u2019re employing people to specialist roles within the police, you must cater for that. But for 90% of cops on the ground, coming in, they need to be given practical skills, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s lacking. There\u2019s too much classroom and university-based learning and not enough practical education for our officers out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeaking from personal experience, I would say I learned 20% of my role as a police officer at training school and 80% of it out there doing the job. We\u2019ve heard about officers who are fantastic young cops, going out there dealing with people day in, day out, but their academic work isn\u2019t up to scratch so we may potentially lose them. That can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve added that another problem was that there weren\u2019t enough experienced officers to mentor new recruits on the job, saying: \u201cWe have increasingly younger officers having to take on that mentoring role.\u201d<\/p>\n