Garner Police Department 2019 Annual Report Published August 2020 | Page 13

Departmental Training
ALL SWORN OFFICERS employed by the Garner
Police Department are required to complete
annual classroom, firearms, and practical
training to maintain their North Carolina certification
as law enforcement officers. North Carolina
requires 24 hours of in-service training every year;
however, Garner police officers received 40 hours of
department-mandated, in-service training in 2019.
Department personnel also attend external training
aimed at expanding and advancing their knowledge
and expertise. As a department, in 2019 Garner
police officers completed approximately 3,658 hours
of advanced training beyond the mandated in-service
or re-certification training.
The Department entered into a partnership with
Interact, our local community-based domestic violence
service program, in 2019 to implement the Lethality
Assessment Program (LAP). LAP is an innovative
strategy to prevent domestic violence homicides
and serious injuries. The LAP provides a method for
law enforcement professionals to identify victims of
domestic violence who are at the highest risk of being
seriously injured or killed by their intimate partners
and to immediately connect them to Interact.
The Garner Police Department is one of the first
law enforcement agencies in North Carolina to have
implemented a mandatory fitness program for all sworn
employees. The Personnel and Training Sergeant
manages the department’s fitness program that was
fully implemented in 2012. The program requires all
sworn personnel to complete the North Carolina Police
Officer Physical Abilities Test (POPAT) at or below the
state standard at least once each year. State standard
for part one of POPAT is six minutes or less and part two
is three minutes or less. Our department average for
all employees completing POPAT in spring 2019 was
4:39 on part one, the apprehension component, and
2:00 on part two, the rescue component. Employees
continue to be afforded opportunities to work out on
duty to improve their fitness.
All sworn officers in the Garner Police Department
are required to complete annual firearms training.
BODY-WORN CAMERA PROGRAM
The Garner Police Department began partial
implementation of the Body-Worn Camera (BWC)
program through state grant funding in 2017. A
separate federal grant allowed the police department
to complete full implementation of the BWC program
in August 2018. 2019 was the first full year of
implementation of the BWC program. In conjunction
with the “in-car” Mobile Video Recorder (MVR)
systems, the use of the body-worn camera system
provides for accountability and consistent review
of officer performance and allows supervisors to
assess training needs and accurately investigate any
complaints received. All sworn police officers are
issued body-worn cameras.
This equipment is a valuable tool, not only in the
prosecution of traffic violations and criminal offenses,
but in the evaluation of officer tactics and performance
and for training and complaint/use-of-force review
purposes. Garner police officers record all citizen
interactions, including traffic stops, calls for service,
and incident calls.
GARNER POLICE DEPARTMENT 2019 ANNUAL REPORT 13