Half officers fail baton tests

Press, 11 December 1989, Page 3

Half officers fail baton tests

PA Wellington Nearly half the traffic officers trained to instruct their colleagues in the safe use of riot batons have failed to meet the required police standards, the Police College says. The corresponding rate within the police force was less than 5 per cent. The Police College’s chief baton instructor, Mr John Moran, said two instruction courses had been held for traffic officers and a third would be held next year. Mr Moran said of the first intake last year only 10 of the 18 officers attending the two-week course passed. Of the second intake of 20 officers in October only 11 were good enough to become instructors, although most were certified to use long batons. Mr Moran said the low pass rate among traffic officers was a reflection of the high standards set by the police to minimise the risks of incorrect use of the baton, which would reflect poorly

on the police. “They will be viewed that much more harshly than the police. If they get it wrong it will reflect on the police,” he said. “Al the moment we have some credibility with the public. All you need is a mistake by a traffic officer for it to come back on us and . we have a problem.” Mr Moran said traffic officers did a two-week course whereas police recruits did it in one. “And we don’t normally do a psychological test with policemen because that is done during their police training. But we do one specifically for traffic officers.” Mr Moran said the additional training and assessment was needed because traffic officers had never used long batons. It was therefore necessary to assess how well they would cope under pressure. “They certainly develop enough skill to use the baton but they then have to transfer that to training others and that is where

the difficulty arises — because they are struggling with their own skills. “But if their policies are right I can see them catching up with the police because they have fewer people to train,” he said. “I think they’re aware the public are watching.” Mr Moran said his only worry was a traffic officer’s misuse of a long baton backfiring on the police. “We have no real control over them in the end but certainly we would distance ourselves from the Ministry if the techniques used are not those taught by the police or acceptable according to the police policy manual. “I know people are concerned that they carry the long baton but if they train properly and have sound policies there should be no problem. “If they have the wrong attitude you’re never going to be safe,” Mr Moran said. A Ministry of Transport spokesman, Mr lan Coddington,

said although the failure rate was higher than that of the police, the standard required by police instructors was higher than they required of their own. “Training takes certain skills. Some people have it and some people don’t, and till we test we don’t know. “We will put another course in next year. We have learnt from these courses the sorts of things we need to be looking for. “This type of training is very physical as well as theoretical and is very demanding.” Mr Coddington said no traffic officer would be issued with a long baton before he or she was certificated. He said although training would be done in the districts, an instructor from the Ministry of Transport training college would make the final assessments. “Districts may well believe they have met the standard but it takes someone to stand back and determine what a national standard will be,” Mr Coddington said.