Cop's Corner

First and foremost, as always, our youth are showing how special they are in so many ways. One only needs to read the valley newspapers to note youth of nearly every age are representing themselves along with their peers in class. We marvel at the student government groups, musicians, thespians, speech and debate teams plus our athletes throughout the area and up and down the valley. Many are having stellar seasons. We respect all involved regardless of their success because they were bold enough to try.

We would be remiss if we did not congratulate the Ronan students for their placing FIRST in the WORLD, YES THAT’S THE WORLD as they made their presentation on the international stage. This is just phenomenal. So proud of these WORLD CLASS representatives.

We need to continuously keep at the forefront of our mind the three percent rule. That is where we in our line of work, as police, have citizen involvement in serious crimes with only three percent of our citizenry. The other 97 percent of our citizens cause little or absolutely no concern. That is a great statistic. Says a lot about our citizens and our community.

We have already in this column talked about the ways one can apply and if successful be hired as a Polson City Police Officer. So today we will share what they can look forward to if they are hired.

The best candidate for us is generally one who has successfully completed the basic course in law enforcement at either our state academy in Helena or a law enforcement academy in some other state. However, the basic certificate is only valid for so many years if they have not been working as an officer. If they are within the time limit and possess a Montana certificate, they are immediately eligible for hire, providing they pass all the other areas of the application process.

However, if they come from another state and passed the basic course there, they must challenge through the State Of Montana Police Officers and Standards Training (P.O.S.T.), a Division of The Montana Crime Control Board, to be certified in Montana. This is accomplished through a series of tests conducted by state academy officials.

If successful, for us it means we can immediately put them out in the field for their 12 week Field Training Officer program. We currently have four certified F.T.O’s in our organization. New hires work with a certified training officer for a 12-week period. If the new recruit passes, and not all do, the F.T.O. program they are placed out on their own as a police officer. Monitoring of that officer will continue for an additional six months.

If they fail the F.T.O program they are released from employment with our agency. Therefore it is incumbent that we make every attempt to hire the best from the applicant pool as the cost for their training is substantial. However, we won’t compromise and allow someone to continue employment if they don’t meet the standards we have set.

If I have thoroughly confused you with the above process I apologize. It is indeed a complex, but necessary, process.

Another method of hiring is that we hire someone who has never been a full-time officer and is not certified. They must complete the following to be one of Polson’s finest.

They are scheduled for The Montana Law enforcement Academy’s 12-week Basic Course. The academy is in Helena. They must absorb the basics of being a good officer and demonstrate such. The instructors are professional in every sense of the word with many being former officers themselves.

There are times we cannot get them into a 12-week academy session for six to nine months, maybe a year, due to their backlog of scheduled trainees. In that case, they start out immediately in our twelve week F.T.O. program. This will allow them to be able to more fully absorb what they will cover as they attend basic.

There is so much to this occupation with so many rules and regulations, all I might add for the good of you and me as citizens is this: We need in this profession need to be held accountable and it is felt by us that serve that we always be held to a higher standard simply because of our position in the community.

The final result is a person who is a completely “fresh” face to law enforcement will see a total of six months of schooling both in the classroom and on the street with their F.T.O. before hitting the bricks on their own. For the next six months their performance will be monitored by senior officers. Anytime during this first year, they may be released without cause. I have had that sad duty during my career in administration to dismiss personnel because they were not making the grade. However, when this occurs the person will be given a reason(s) they are being released from our employ.

In some ways, I am from the old school so I look at the new kid on the block as a plebe, rookie or slick sleeve for a minimum of a year. However, back in my days as a rookie (1963) the old timers felt you were one of the above terms for five years.

I’ll close for now. As you see it is a rather complex set of rules and regulation set up to become an officer. I again emphasize this is to yours and my benefit as citizens in the community.

Stay safe, stay dry and next time we will explore another area of this career of choice called law enforcement. As I conclude this article there is a bright orange ball in the sky. Ah things are good!

Those Missions and beyond are spectacular.