POLICE TECHNICAL recently completed its most unique training to date with one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the nation.
In mid-November POLICE TECHNICAL taught a specialized course to the New York Police Department [NYPD]. Unlike anything the company had offered in the past, the course spanned five days and employed two instructors.
“NYPD has more law enforcement personnel in their department than some states have law enforcement personnel,” said Thomas Manson, CEO of POLICE TECHNICAL. “So you can imagine any agency of that size have enough intellectual capital to drive their own training and answer their own questions so when a group like that reaches out, that’s unusual.”
The five-day Cell Phone Investigations Certification course is described as a combination class specifically designed for the needs of the department.
“Most of our classes are two-day stand-alone events,” Manson said. “But the course NYPD wanted was a combination of three different classes all of them revolving around cell phone data, cell phone investigations and cell phone mapping.”
Founded in 2005, POLICE TECHNICAL provides national level law enforcement training in five distinct, 80-hour certification tracks and 17 different courses in 20-30 different locations. The company employs 18 instructors and an additional office staff at its headquarters in Terre Haute, Ind.
To accommodate exactly what NYPD was requesting POLICE TECHNICAL put together a course featuring two instructors Jordan Swonger, a 10-year police veteran and a Sergeant with the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Technical Operations Unit and Ashley Englefield, a 10-year veteran of the Sacramento Police Department in Northern California.
“I think it says a lot; the biggest kid on the block hires you to teach them something,” Swonger said. “That adds to our credibility.”
While the two instructors have taught countless classes for POLICE TECHNICAL, they say working with the NYPD was a learning experience, with both the instructors and participants sharing information.
“We had a lot of experience and technical knowledge that was brought to the table. It was a high functioning class,” Swonger said. “We were able to teach a lot and they were able to show us a lot too. There are a lot of ways to skin a cat.”
With technology ever changing and the amount of people who now carry a cell phone growing, Englefield said the sharing of information will make each law enforcement agency stronger and more knowledgeable.
“This isn’t a static thing that we are doing, everything changes all the time so the class itself is always changing,” he said. “I learn something new in every class that I teach and my job is to teach what I know and use what I learn from them and take that to other classes. There is no one right way to do it. We are always looking for more efficient ways to do it.”
Highly satisfied with the course, NYPD has already recommended POLICE TECHNICAL to other departments looking for similar training. The company also received positive feedback from participants through online evaluations. Feedback is requested no matter the size of the department or length of course.
NYPD was unable to comment directly for this piece because of department protocol, but a handful of participants did share positive comments.
One comment reads, “The instructors were well versed in cell phone investigations. They were clear, concise, informative and relatable. Overall the entire class was very good and I would recommend it.”
“I will definitely use what I learned in the future,” added another participant.
Another participant echoes recommending the course by writing, “Both instructors were very knowledgeable and very thorough with the material. I would highly recommend this class.”
Looking back on the success of the course and positive reviews Manson said he’s highly satisfied with the outcome, making additional specialized training with departments across the country possible in the future.
“It is a feather in our cap that NYPD wanted to work with us and that we got the attention of such a large entity,” Manson said. “It will be valuable for us and it will be valuable for other agencies in the end.”
For information about how your agency can host Cell Phone Certification training contact Stephanie Pence at spence@policetechnical.com or call at 812-232-4200.
Editor’s note: Content for this piece was provided by Staff Writer Katie Shane.
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