Derrick Miller
DUNCAN — To teach a class, one must be trained. But to teach those teachers, even more training is involved.
Duncan police officers Sgt. David Woods and Lt. Brian Attaway headed up the Field Training Officers (FTO) program. Five Duncan officers graduated from the program.
“We trained officers to train officers,” Woods said. “The class was enjoyable.”
Officers who went through the program included Jarrod Bishop, Jeff Arnold, Mike Wilson, Corey Morris and Jason Egger. The class focused on training officers so they could go on to teach other officers about how to handle a variety of situations in the field.
Prior to training other police officers to train other officers, Woods and Attaway went through the FTO program, much like their five students did.
In October, both went through more training to take the step up.
While they’re still training officers, what they’re teaching has changed to a degree.
“Our experience of training other officers helped us teach this class,” Woods said.
While some officers may have chosen to go through the training program, others chose to help the process.
Master officers Steve Biffle, Ron Corcorran, Layle Baker, Nathan Carrio and Michael Davidson helped teach portions of the class.
All of these officers have been through the FTO program.
Woods said he appreciated the help the master officers provided in teaching the class.
He said they all wanted the five students to learn how to effectively teach the subject material.
Woods said FTO training, which the five officers will be teaching, follows four phases.
Students start with one officer, move to another, then yet another, before returning to the first officer.
“They’re not the same person they were when they began,” Woods said.
He said training is an extensive process because the officers, who range in experience, have to learn about what situations they may come across. Much of the program focuses on daily observations and how the officers would react in those give situations.
“We have to cover what has to be taught in each phases,” Woods said.
Woods and Attaway oversee FTOs during their shifts.
Woods said he misses training actual recruits, which was something he had to give up to training the officers doing the teaching and to take a promotion.
He said the FTOs have been trained well enough to interact well with the recruits.
“Training is one of the most enjoyable and stressful things,” Woods said.
— Derrick Miller is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 160, or via e-mail at derrick.miller@duncanbanner.com.
