The Blog

John Batiste, Chief of Washington State Patrol

03/06/09

One of the challenges we have in the state patrol is getting high-quality training to employees in all regions of the state. In the long run, good training saves money. It makes people more effective, and more efficient. In a law enforcement agency, quality training can reduce the risk of employee injury or citizen lawsuits. But as we face our current budget challenge we�re looking for less expensive ways to keep our people sharp.

One of the programs of which I�m most proud is our diversity training. I require every employee to attend, and it�s unquestionably been successful. Repeated studies by Washington State University have shown that state troopers enforce the law without regard to race or ethnicity.

However, this particular program is very expensive to deliver. To assure quality the number of instructors is limited to a small group. That in turn increases costs as this small group must travel the state delivering the course to audiences of manageable size. The value is immense but we have to face financial reality.

We�ve made the decision to develop an on-line version of this class for our employees to take right at their desks. My hope is that this more efficient delivery method will provide the same excellent results at far less cost. There is some training we can�t deliver online. Firearms qualification and driving are two that come immediately to mind. But we are taking a hard look at every class we deliver and may move other classes online as well.

I won�t compromise on the quality of training. That�s a false economy. We�ll be watching the results closely to make sure that we�re still getting the desired outcome and we�ll be sure to let you know how we do.