Police Training

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:09 -0500

by Dr. Arie Bloed, Forum Asia Foundation, Thailand

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This notebook discusses how a strategy to work toward promoting community policing in Thailand and other countries in Asia utilized the introduction of a unique, computer-based police training education program to engage and enlist the support of key leadership of the Royal Thai Police (RTP) to champion the training tool. As a tactic, the computer-based police training program provides an excellent tool to help police more effectively address their own immediate day-to-day policing challenges while also serving to build mutual trust, acknowledgement and support.

"Police training about use of force and firearms in Thailand so far didn’t include much about psychology, only about the technical skills of shooting. So this is completely new and very important. We need to know how our brains are functioning in a situation of potential violence in order to avoid making mistakes."–Thai Police Trainee

Forum-Asia (FA)–as a regional NGO, and Arie Bloed, as a foreign consultant with expertise in the design and development of a unique computer-based police training program–engaged and enlisted the support of top leadership of the Royal Thai Police (RTP) to implement the training program in Thailand. To date, the engagement and support has resulted in the successful training and development of a core cadre of seventeen Thai police trainers from different institutions and departments of the RTP. It has also resulted in co-sponsorship between FA and the RTP of a regional workshop that took place in June 2004 that introduced the police training program to representatives from civil society and top police officials from eight other Asian countries. As a result, FA began a similar program with police in Cambodia. The program in Cambodia is now in the process of implementation and the first ToT was organized in October 2005.

FA chose to introduce a professional police training program with the RTP as a first step in opening the doors for more long-term co-operation aimed at supporting the strategic goal to introduce community policing, more accountability and transparency.

It is remarkable that the ’generic’ COLPI training modules originally developed for use in former socialist countries are considered highly applicable to the further professionalization of police in many other countries. Contrary to expectations, the fact that only ’white faces’ in ’neutral’ police uniforms are seen in the many film scenarios has appeared to be even an asset. Thai, as well as Mongolian, police students consider these scenarios to be important sources of inspiration, as in their view they reflect modern policing in the more developed countries in the world.

A very important aspect of FA’s tactical approach was not to label the training program "Police and Human Rights," but rather "Professional Policing." This concept was a program of police and for police. FA wanted to address the practical behavioural skills which police officers need in their day-to-day work. FA offered the police a practical training that would meet the needs of police themselves.

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integrated training, police perspective

Police Training