U. Police head back to school

A new Temple University initiative will gather officers from several of the city's specialized police forces. Classes will be soon be in session for officers from Philadelphia's numerous specialized police forces, as the Penn Police Department joins those of Temple University and the Philadelphia Housing Authority for a continuing series of training programs. As part of the efforts to streamline and improve police training in Philadelphia, Temple officials have created an institute offering various training programs to several campus and quasi-public police forces. John Clark, director of Temple's criminal justice training programs, explained that the Penn, Temple and Philadelphia Housing Authority police departments have already committed to the new Municipal Police Education and Training Commission, and "about a half a dozen other police agencies" have expressed interest in joining the program. The Philadelphia Police Department, however, will not be participating in the Commission's training programs. He added that the commission could eventually serve approximately 500 officers from between 10 and 20 police agencies in the five-county Philadelphia area and in southern New Jersey. Clark said the commission -- which will offer its first programs this month with a full slate to follow later this year -- is designed to provide training and courses in interrogation techniques, problem identification, decision-making and legal knowledge. He added that, to his knowledge, this is the first program of its kind. "I'm not following a model," said Clark, who also directs the state's continuing education program for sheriffs. "As far as I'm concerned, we're kind of putting it together on our own." He explained that pooling resources will benefit everyone involved in the institute, noting that "there hasn't been anything for agencies that serve specific populations like this." Penn's Managing Director of Public Safety Thomas Seamon said in a recent interview that he is looking forward to the new training commission, stressing that University Police officers have not had the level of training he would desire. "Officers have been working overtime [and] officers have been generating a lot of arrests," Seamon said. "Therefore, they go to court a lot, and it's difficult to schedule as much training as we want." In addition to the Temple-run training institute, Director of Police Operation Maureen Rush said recently that the Division of Public Safety has begun a specialized training program for 15 officers from all areas of University Police, including Special Services, supervisors and patrol officers. Clark said he believes training is "absolutely essential" to ensure that police forces adapt to continually changing police technology and the demands of society in general. "You're talking about an extremely difficult occupation that requires updating on a regular basis," said Clark, who has been involved with criminal justice programs for 25 years. "Most agencies are doing very, very significant amounts of training above and beyond what's been done in the past."