Graduating from the academy doesn't make anyone a finished cop. Everyone who has ever worn the uniform knows that — the real question is what the agency does with a new graduate during those first months on the street. In their third conversation with Maurício de Thomazi, a delegado (chief investigator) with the São Paulo Civil Police and host of Criminocast, Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu opened with exactly that: when a rookie reports to their first unit, who rides along, how often, and what happens if they can't handle it?

In São Paulo: the class at Acadepol, then the boss

In São Paulo's Civil Police, the path starts with a civil service exam. Once approved and called up, the candidate goes to Acadepol, the Police Academy. According to the guest, the course usually runs 6 to 9 months and is taught as a class: Monday through Friday, fixed hours, academy structure. There is no one-on-one supervision.

In the final month there is a kind of internship that, in practice, is a guided tour: the cadet spends two or three days at a precinct, a few more at the Electronic Police Station, another at the DHPP (Homicide and Personal Protection Department), and so on. They observe, but they don't perform any police work.

Once they graduate, they are assigned to a duty station. There, their immediate supervisor evaluates them periodically through an internal system. The guest mentions one evaluation every six months, "if I'm not mistaken." There is no daily report. The probationary period for Brazilian public servants, which determines tenure, is three years, as required by Article 41 of the Brazilian Constitution.

In California: the FTO and the daily report

Here in the U.S., the phase after the academy has its own name and its own rules: the Field Training Program, with the rookie paired up with a Field Training Officer (FTO). In California, POST (the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training) requires agencies to maintain this program, with a minimum length of 10 weeks. Most large departments go well beyond that.

The model was born here. The so-called San Jose Model was created in 1972 by the San Jose Police Department after serious incidents involving a new officer. In 1974, according to the department itself, the state adopted the model as the standard for field training in California.

Outside California, however, the FTO never became a national rule. There is no federal standard in the United States requiring field training: each state and each agency decides. Some states and agencies simply have no FTO program at all. It was adopted mainly by the more progressive and modern agencies and states, as a way to improve the quality of the officer who hits the street.

The hosts described how it works at their own agency in the Los Angeles area:

• The first two days are observation only. After that, the rookie starts taking action, beginning with small things, like a parking ticket. The logic is that they've been through the academy classes and scenarios and now need to apply what they learned;
• Written evaluation every day. That's the DOR (Daily Observation Report): what they did well, what they did poorly and what the trainer had to retrain. The department pays the trainer to have about half an hour per shift just to write that report. After six months, it adds up to a complete file on the rookie;
• Weekly cut. At the end of each week, the week is either a pass or a fail;
• Six phases, at each trainee's own pace. Each phase is roughly four weeks, but some trainees close out a phase in two weeks and others take three months. The whole program can last anywhere from six months to a year, and they have seen an 18-month case of someone who just couldn't move past a phase.

That's what they call personalization. The academy is the same for everyone. Field training adjusts to whoever is being trained and can be extended.

Probation: a year and a half — or one year, depending on who's counting

At the hosts' agency, probation is 18 months. From HR's point of view, it's 12 months. In California departments, probation usually runs between 12 and 18 months, and during that time an officer can be let go with far less formality than after they're off probation.

The comparison with São Paulo shows a difference in design, not in purpose. There, probation is long (three years) and supervision is spaced out. Here, probation is short and supervision is daily. The guest put it this way: what sets the American model apart is closer, more frequent supervision.

When the rookie doesn't cut it

The question that closes this topic is always the same: what if, a year in, it's clear the guy just isn't cut out for it? In São Paulo, according to the guest, the supervisor's evaluation goes to a unit within the Corregedoria, the equivalent of Internal Affairs, that only tracks officers on probation. If there's a problem, the supervisor notes it in the evaluation, the Corregedoria opens a case and the officer can be dismissed. "I've seen it happen," he said.

Here, the natural route is field training itself: the DOR documents it, the week is failed, the phase doesn't close, and the department decides whether to extend training or release the rookie while still on probation. All three agreed that, in the end, the two systems are more alike than different. Organizations facing the same problem tend to land on similar solutions.

Looking outward

The conversation ended on a point Eliel Teixeira makes in his own words. He admires the fact that Brazilian police forces, such as São Paulo's and Brasília's, send managers abroad to learn about other systems. He says he has told his own bosses as much: many American agencies don't have that habit and see themselves as the center of the world. In his view, whoever goes to look at another country comes back with one of two things: a new idea to bring home, or confirmation that what they're already doing is right. And, according to him, Latin America has a lot of public safety problems — and for that very reason may have a lot of solutions too.

The guest gave the credit to Acadepol. To him, São Paulo's academy is a center of excellence and one of the reasons São Paulo has one of the best police forces in the country, even with the pay complaint he made a point of putting on the record. Eliel said he had seen the research topics of students in the CSP (Superior Police Course) and found the level "off the charts."

What the two of them think about it

In the episode, Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu talk about field training from the perspective of officers who train rookies in the Los Angeles area: the daily report, the weekly cut and the phases that stretch to fit the trainee. The guest covers the São Paulo path, from Acadepol to the supervisor's evaluation. The full episode has the details from each side.

Sources and verification

Brazilian Federal Constitution, Art. 41 (three-year probationary period for public-servant tenure). California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), Field Training Program Guide and California Code of Regulations, Title 11, § 1004 (mandatory field training program). San Jose Police Department, history of the Field Training Officer Program (created in 1972, adopted by the state in 1974). The absence of a federal requirement and the uneven adoption of FTO programs across states and agencies were pointed out by Eliel Teixeira in his review of this article. The length of the Acadepol course, the frequency of evaluations in São Paulo and the role of the Corregedoria are the guest's account; he noted he wasn't certain of every detail. The phases, the DOR and the probation length described are those of the hosts' agency and vary between departments.

Who's talking here: Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu are active-duty police officers in the Los Angeles area, California — Brazilian-born, American citizens, with long careers in law enforcement. In this episode, produced in partnership with Criminocast, they welcome for the third time Maurício de Thomazi, a delegado with the São Paulo State Civil Police, professor of criminology and criminal procedure, and host of Criminocast.

Note: what is described here about American policing applies to the rules in California — and, in several respects, to each host's specific department. Rules change in other U.S. states. What is described about Brazil applies to the Civil Police of São Paulo; each Brazilian police force has its own organic law and internal regulations.