The City of Pharr Police departments Field Training Program is intended to ease a police officer’s transition from the academic setting to the performance of general law enforcement patrol duties of the department.  Although an officer graduating from the police academy has received a thorough introduction to basic law enforcement subjects, that officer cannot be expected to immediately function as an experienced officer. Newly assigned officers must receive additional training in the field, where they can learn from officers who have already gained a great deal of practical patrol experience.  The Field Training Program introduces a newly assigned officer to the personnel, procedures, policies, and purposes of the department as well as providing the initial formal and informal training specific to the day-to-day duties of its officers.

In order to make the new officers’ field training as effective as possible, they are assigned to a Field Training Officer (FTO).  The FTO is an experienced officer especially selected and trained to conduct this type of training. It is the responsibility of the FTO to thoroughly review the field training guide materials with the newly assigned officer and to demonstrate proper patrol procedures.  Probationary officers will be required to perform various law enforcement duties under the guidance and supervision of their assigned FTO and Field Training Coordinator/Manager (FTC/M). The student’s performance will be evaluated daily by the FTO and monitored by the FTC/M through Weekly Manager Reports (WMR).  This one-on-one style of training, and the fact that the instructor/trainers must guide the training in real law enforcement situations, sets it apart from any prior academic endeavor.

Field training has a significant impact on the individual student in terms of imprinting attitudes, style, values, and ethics in carrying out the duties of police work that will remain throughout a career.  Consequentially, it is probably the most effective influence on the future direction of a department. The law enforcement department head and his or her field training managers must, therefore, be certain that the field training program which introduces officers to the department not only develops the necessary technical skills but also reflects the policing philosophy of the department and the community that it serves. 

Listed below is an outline of what a newly hired Officer would experience in the Field Training Program.