Police training falters as city budgets are cut

Basic training for police officers is taking a hit because of the financial problems of local cities who must pay for it, reports Kevin Johnson for USA Today. Washington-based think tank Police Executive Research Forum says nearly 70% of police agencies cut back or eliminated training programs this year as part of local government budget reductions, according to a survey this fall of 608 agencies.

Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan told Johnson that his department's entire in-service training program was shuttered for a year, beginning in June 2009. Jordan faced cutting training or laying off staff. According to Jordan, the training cut was a "no-brainer. ... We needed to keep people on the street and saw the cuts to training as a bridge to better times."

The cost of cutting or eliminating training may be felt later. "When you pull away the support beams of a building, it doesn't fall down immediately," Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, told Johnson. "But eventually, it's going to have an impact." (Read more)