Observations on the Blue Courage Train the Trainer Model

• In Event: Police Organizational Issues

Abstract

Blue Courage: The Heart and Mind of the Guardian is an in-service police training program focused on changing the culture of policing to emphasize guardianship and nobility, and build knowledge and skills regarding mental and emotional health in officers. Blue Courage recently implemented a Train - the - Trainer model to increase the number of officers that could be trained. One mid-sized police department served as a research site and used the Train the Trainer model to immerse their entire department in the training.
Multiple observations of the training, and interviews with the local certified instructors, at the research site identified a number of issues relevant to (a) the efficacy of the Train the Trainer model in the context of police training generally, and (b) the efficacy of the Train the Trainer model in the context of Blue Courage specifically. Implications for the future of Blue Courage and other police training will be discussed.

Author

• Gregory Drake, Rochester Institute of Technology