Hey so, I have seen lots of cadets joining for example SCSO with pretty basic legal knowledge of certain stuff that they need to at least have a medium knowledge such as criminal code, traffic code, etc… So I made this poll for LEO’s to vote and discuss if they feel that POST legal training was enough.
Yes it was enough.
No, it wasn’t enough.
It gave me an starting point to then expand it by myself.
The heck is the criminal code?
0voters
So, I am making this poll since I see that there is lots of cadets coming from POST without that much knowledge from the criminal code, traffic code and such apart from what is it and to copy and paste the time for the crime. I myself think that POST legal training could have been better since I came to like actually learn everything properly by experience (1 year in SCSO, lol, what I am doing with my life) but I feel that cadets, probies and such can avoid certain situations with better legal training.
I think that the POST certified individuals themselves need to use common sense by reading the laws to understand them more in depth as the criminal code changes every oncenin a while…
if POST were to teach people the ENTIRE criminal code, it’d be useless after some time
Most of the crimes are only 1-2 sentences. Since an LEO’s job is basically to enforce the criminal code, I think they should be taught the ENTIRE criminal code (except for the “courts only” offenses). I don’t think they should have to recall it from memory, but they should at least know how to differentiate Resisting Arrest/Evasion/Felony Evasion or Assault/Battery.
Also, the Prominence College of Law is opening soon… maybe some guest classes are in order?
That argument is kinda funky. It is the individual’s job to make sure they understand what they are enforcing. As a kinda close comparison, I’m EMT-P with FFA. We are only taught the very basic drugs, and it is up to the individual to research the drugs we can use, and ensure we use them correctly. Up to the individual, not the academy.
I’m not so sure when you graduated post, but I take that it was a decent amount of time ago. Our curriculum has definitely changed throughout the last couple months, and we are always opened to further discussion regarding our curriculum.
I agree with @jt7122 on this. Our job is to teach the basics of becoming a law enforcement officer (we go a bit in depth with the law portion; as well as having it legal checked by multiple attorneys). We do link them the criminal code and our assistance is always there should a cadet not understand a certain area. I myself, and the Director, are open to any further suggestions anyone may have.
Technically, our job is to train new comers or old comers of course basic LEO training. Yes, we add legal parts to our curriculum and it has changed majorly over the months a lot. But, it shouldn’t be our job to train you on legal stuff within Firestone. You as a upcoming LEO or a current LEO should always make sure your up to date on laws and criminal code. We can only put so much as well because legal things in FS change so much.
I think its enough, they should be able to look at the criminal code and exand upon it themselves. Enough of the BOR n Const is taught for them to do their job.
most of the laws you need to follow as an LEO are just common sense anti-chimp laws. If you really need more help knowing what not to do when you’re acting as an officer then you probably shouldn’t be working as an LEO in the first place.
As far as knowing the traffic code or criminal code, there are spreadsheets you can reference in like 2 seconds to see “golly is this a crime or not ”
as someone who has never been sued for false arrest, if im arresting someone for anything other than trespassing at fng, i reread the charge on the criminal code (which i have favorited on trello) just to make sure i have my ducks in a row before i send them to jail
I think this is how most POST graduates and current LEOs feel. POST didn’t teach us anything about laws except for what PC and RS are. They linked us to the MDT (which we used back then) and we were just expected to read and understand the definitions. As a current LEO, I think as long as you read through most of the important charges on the Criminal Code, and re-read definitions when you’re arresting someone for a certain charge, you’ll be fine.
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