DRAFT REPORT OF THE CITY OF SPOKANE USE ... - Samuel Walker

Mr. Earl F. Martin
RE: REPORT TO USE OF FORCE COMMISSION
December 3, 2012
Page 4
New hires for the City of Spokane also receive two days of training before they go to the
basic law enforcement academy. That training includes familiarization with their firearms for safety
purposes with regard to handling and transport of the weapons to BLEA, and a report writing block
on the computer program that the Spokane Police Department utilizes so that new hires can be
familiar with this and use it during their basic academy training. Use of force training and related
areas of study at the basic academy level include numerous blocks of instruction designated typically
as either Defensive Tactics or Patrol Procedures. (See Exhibit "A".)
PRE-FTO PROGRAM TRAINING
The discussion then turned to the "post-academy" training conducted by Spokane Police
Department Training Center for the probationary officers subsequent to completion of the basic law
enforcement academy. Note that this training is referred to as the "Pre-FTO" training to avoid
confusion with the phrase "P.O.S.T." academy which is commonly understood in law enforcement
training to refer to the governing body for law enforcement training in most states (ie. Peace Officer
Standards and Training Commission). The State of Washington governing body for law enforcement
training is the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC).
At the time of this initial meeting I was presented with a "Pre-FTO Program" schedule for
the current probationary officers. That 40-hour Pre-FTO program schedule for the probationary
officers was developed by Academy Training Staff and covered June 25-29, 2012 (see "Pre-FTO
Program" attached hereto as Exhibit "B") . We discussed that in prior years the Pre-FTO program
for Spokane Police Department consisted of 80-hours of training (see Post Academy Schedule,
November 14-23, 2011 attached hereto as Exhibit "C"). The June, 2012 schedule reduction in
hours resulted in the following cuts: no side-handle or PR-24 police baton training; a reduction of
firearms training from 16-hours to 8-hours; a reduction of defensive tactics from 8-hours to 4-hours;
no use of force report writing training; no active shooter or low level light shooting exercises or
mock scenarios. Additionally, the limited time provided for the defensive tactics portion of the
Pre-FTO program also impacted the opportunity for training staff to cover the differences between
the Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint System, which is a multi-level system of applying a carotid
restraint and the Carotid Restraint as taught by SPD as a 2 level technique. The primary reason given
for many of these changes was a reliance on the basic law enforcement academy to cover the
majority of these items. Also, pepper spray training (OC) was eliminated from the Pre-FTO program
because it was believed to be covered at the basic law enforcement academy as an optional nighttime
program.