Field Training Officer
Our FTO certification course turns FTOs into expert teachers.
Field Training Officer
Our FTO certification course turns FTOs into expert teachers.
California POST Certified: #1345-31725 – Plan N/A
Need certification for your state?
We are based in San Jose, California where the “San Jose Model” FTO concept was invented. This course teaches new FTOs how to teach, evaluate and document the progress of a trainee.
The reason our FTO program is so highly rated is that we teach our FTO students how to be expert teachers. After sending your FTO to our course, they are going to return to your agency the skills to not just evaluate, but to actually teach and mentor your trainees. They will learn specific ways to save a struggling trainee so you can reduce the number of trainees who fail your FTO program.
Whereas other FTO courses are known for being dry, and focused mostly on liability, we use dynamic instructors who employ the modern science of teaching and learning in a relaxed and enjoyable way. The instructors are passionate about giving your new FTO all the tools he or she needs to teach, evaluate and document a trainee’s performance.
In addition, our instructors are practitioners, not theorists. They have a ton of experience training new officers, so you’ll get to see how they use the course material in the real world.
This course is POST-certified in California and Idaho.
Contact Us to discuss POST certification in your state.
Here are 5 reasons that our students say FTOs need to take this course:
- Spend the course time teaching, evaluating, and documenting instead of listening to a dry lecture or “Death by Power Point”
- Learn from current and former FTOs and FTO Supervisors. Our instructors are practitioners, not theorists.
- Learn how to be an FTO through careful analysis of real-incident videos and role players
- You’ll receive lots of examples of evaluation reports and get plenty of practice writing them
- Learn specifically how to apply the number scale to rate trainees
Most agencies struggle with hiring and retaining quality recruits. Having well trained FTOs can make the difference between recruits successfully passing the Field Training Program or not.
Most agencies talk about the FTO being one of the most important positions in the department, but then don’t put much thought into the specifics of the training course they attend. They simply find an FTO course that has an opening for their FTO to attend and wait for them to come back with a certification. Unfortunately, some of the FTOs we polled didn’t feel adequately prepared by the certification course they attended. Consider what happens when an unprepared FTO is paired up with a struggling trainee?
You invest a lot of time and money into hiring a recruit, and your FTOs are responsible for getting those recruits through the Field Training Program. Their ability to teach, evaluate and document can make all the difference, especially when it comes to remediating a struggling recruit. Your FTOs are preparing your new officers to be the future of your department so FTOs need the proper training to do so.
Plus get access to 10 refresher training videos featuring our Savage Training Group FTO Instructors!
The learning doesn’t stop when you leave this course. Each FTO student will receive 10 separate training videos sent to them in the weeks and months after the course. That means that the learning doesn’t stop after you attend our course.
These videos are a $99 value. We’re including them here at no additional charge for students who complete the course!
Upcoming Presentations:
We know how important hiring and retaining new officers is to your agency, so we designed a course that ensures FTOs are ready to move that trainee successfully through the Field Training Program. For those trainees who must be let go, our course teaches FTOs how to thoroughly document the matter and avoid liability for the agency.
What are students are saying about the FTO Course:
Your Instructors
Eddie Chan, Garrett Slonicker, and Dom Gamboa are not only highly-experienced law enforcement professionals from Northern California but they are also expert instructors. Eddie is a current FTO Sergeant and Garrett is a current Field Training Officer with the San Jose Police Department. Dom is a former Training Unit Officer with the San Francisco Police Department and is a current Sergeant with the Broadmoor Police Department. Each have a ton of experience teaching law enforcement officers. They are obsessed with delivering highly engaging courses and they are the reason why our FTO training programs are so different than the typical “Death by Power Point” courses.
A Message from our FTO Instructors for Training Managers and FTO Supervisors:
“Teaching law enforcement officers is our passion, which is why we dedicated our careers to training cops. The reason we got together to take on the challenge of creating the best FTO course is because we know just how important it is. We have poured all of our law enforcement and teaching experience into this course and we can confidently say there is simply nothing else like it out there. Your FTOs are going to leave our course fully prepared and confident.”