The nature and scope of detective training in the SAPS

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CHAPTER 3 AN OVERVIEW OF TRAINING AND TRAINING TECHNIQUES

Introduction

Training in any police agency is a critical issue as it impacts directly on service delivery. A few of the critical areas identified over the years are finances for training, the necessity for training, needs driven training programmes to be presented and relevant training methods to be used. It must be remembered that police officials as adult learners will be attending training programmes that will be presented in any police agency, or in this case more specifically, SAPS. The effectiveness of such a training programme will depend on different critical areas of which some will be discussed or explored in this literature review. A few important factors to remember about any training programme that will be given is that it must be relevant and applicable, must be presented within an adult learning paradigm and that the training techniques or methods used must be effective to transfer learning from the trainer or facilitator to the learner and then to the work environment.
Limited research-based information regarding the South African position on training is available. Therefore research on an international level was sought. Due to the fact that all police agencies all over the world consist of the same basic rules and regulations, training in such police services will be implemented on the same basics even if the training techniques and methods differ. In this literature review an overview of training will be given on all important aspects of training i.e. paradigm shifts in training, the role of training, purpose of training, reasons for training, adult learners and adult learning, pedagogy and andragogy, focus of training, types of training and training techniques and methods.

Key concepts for this study

3.2.1 Training: Training is the delivering of information by a trainer so that the trainee either develops a specific skill or reinforces it, and that understanding of the skill can be evaluated by a test whether it is hands-on, oral or written (Chuda, 1995:6). Haberfeld (2002:33) states that training is the focus on how effectively a task is done and is experiential and goal oriented and is narrow in scope (Haberfeld, 2002:33). With these definitions, training can be seen as the imparting of knowledge from one person to another to enable that person to do his or her work efficiently 3.2.2 Education: Education is the teaching of a subject or skill in a broad scope to enable people to think for themselves, to predict possible outcomes of solutions, to solve problems themselves by evaluating the different options against each other and reaching a conclusion (Haberfeld, 2002:32). According to Charles (2000:8), education encourages people to think for themselves and to reason and understand their tasks to enable them to do their work. Education is the process used to teach people to think for themselves and due to the thinking, be able to do whatever tasks they set out to do.
3.2.3 Facilitation: Facilitation is the focus of how people learn and to bring about the learning process by focusing the responsibility of learning with the learner and not facilitator who is there to lead the learner and not to teach the learner (Hart, 1996:2-6). Facilitation is known as the process of self-directed learning where the concern is how people learn and how to make the process happen (Heron, 1989:12). It is where the responsibility of learning lies with each learner to learn and to bring about the learning process.
According to the above definitions, there is a clear difference between the three concepts of training, education and facilitation. Although the three differ, all of them still form part of the development process of a person who wishes to learn skills and knowledge. Training may be presented about a specific course or skill which a person must learn to be able to do a certain task but facilitation is the way in which such a module of the skill or knowledge is being presented to a learner that will enhance the learning process. In a manner of speaking both training and facilitation form part of education as education is the broader view of someone that will learn a certain course, programme or degree. All three these concepts form a whole for the development of a person to be able to do their work.

Training, education and development: a critical and theoretical perspective

Bosman and Frost (1996:2) indicate that the challenge for police education is by no means small and needs a new approach to close the gap between knowledge and skills. It is clear that education alone will never be able to eliminate the skills and experience gap in the SAPS while trying to align skilled and experienced police officials from a “force” to a “service” orientation. The role of education and more specifically, distance education is of the utmost importance. The distance education institutions will provide education on training opportunities that will help in police development and help transform the police. It is also quite clear that an effective police service will help in reducing crime and this can be reached by developing police officers’ skills.
Due to rationalization, amalgamation and transformation, a change in attitudes of society in terms of criminality and victimization is required. To be able to create this, a community based and supported police service, which in turn requires new skills and competencies, is needed. This can be reached by training, education and developing our police officials to enable them to break down barriers that have been erected between the community and police over many years and help them to change from an enemy to a “friend” (Bosman & Frost, 1996:2).

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Paradigm shifts in learning

Over the years a radical change has developed in the theory and practice of higher education. This is specifically seen in the adult education world. As such, teaching has changed from being important and doing things for learners to being self-directing education (Heron, 1989:12). Heron also states that the focus has now changed from the old model way of teaching things to people to the new model about how people learn and how to bring about this change and make them (the learners) realize that learning is their own responsibility and only secondarily rests with the facilitator. This is in line with the adult learning paradigm, which will be discussed more thoroughly later in this document.
A good example of a paradigm shift is the length to which the trainers were prepared to go to change their training programmes (Murphy & Gascon, 2001:38). An example of this is the Department of Justice in the USA and the LAPD and the changes they brought to their police department. After the rampant corruption scandal, a huge review was done of the Department of Justice in the USA. It was clear that many changes had to be made to their training programmes. It was stipulated that training had to be increased in certain areas i.e. cultural diversity, duty to report misconduct, accurate report writing and Fourth Amendment issues. Orders of interactive exercises of handling ethical dilemmas were also received. New training mandates were placed on the LAPD in connection with use-of-force options, arrest and control, driving skills and tactical communications. This training was considered perishable skills training and all members had to undergo it every two years in order to receive a pay raise bonus.

CHAPTER 1: Orientation and Introduction 
1.1 Background and introduction
1.2 Problem statement
1.3 Value of the research
1.4 Key theoretical concept of training for this study
1.5 Research methodology
1.6 Problems that complicated the study
1.7 Layout of dissertation
CHAPTER 2: The nature and extent of detective training
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Historical perspective of training in the SAPS
2.3 Detective training in other countries
2.4 The nature and scope of detective training in the SAPS
2.5 Entry level requirements for detective training
2.6 The effectiveness of detective training
2.7 Summary
CHAPTER 3: An overview of training and training techniques
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Key concepts for this study
3.3 Training, education and development: a critical and theoretical perspective
3.4 Adult learners and adult learning
3.5 Pedagogy and andragogy
3.6 Modern police training
3.7 The focus of training
3.8 Training techniques and methods
3.9 SAPS as a learning organization
3.10 Summary
CHAPTER 4: Presentation of the results of research
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Learning styles
4.3 Training techniques
4.4 Mentoring for detectives
4.5 Trainers of the detective courses
4.6 The length of the detective courses
4.7 Subjects of the detective courses
4.8 The learners’ views on training
4.9 The knowledge of prosecutors regarding detective work
4.10 Summary
CHAPTER 5: Interpretation of research findings
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The learning styles
5.3 Training techniques
5.4 Mentoring for detectives
5.5 The Detective Learning Programme (DLP)
5.6 The Introduction of the Crime Investigation course
5.7 The knowledge of prosecutors regarding detective work
5.8 Summary
CHAPTER 6: Summary, recommendations and conclusion
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Summary
6.3 Recommendation
6.4 The New Facilitators’ Guide for Detective Trainers –training model
6.5 Conclusion
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