'We Do Everything But Go Out On The Streets With Them'

'We Do Everything But Go Out On The Streets With Them'

How Ann Arbor trains its rookie policemen

By William B. Treml

Forty years ago a young man filled out an application for a patrolman's job with the Ann Arbor Police Department.

A desk officer checked the application over.

"Yeah," he said. "It looks all right. When can you start?

"Right away," came the reply.

"Good," said the desk man. "Pick up your uniform and hat at the tailors down the street. Report here tomorrow morning and I'll give you a gun and badge."

And another Ann Arbor citizen was made a cop overnight.

He, like so many men before him, became a law officer without the benefit of training of any type in law enforcement, without physical or mental examinations and without a check of personal background. Like so many city police officers all over the nation he would become a seasoned, competent

police officer only through the bitter experience he gained on his beat.

Today a young man applying for a patrolman's position with the Ann Arbor Police Department is required to do much more than fill out an application.

The method of his selection and training today is as different from the practice of a generation ago as is his pay scale.

The rookie patrolman in his new uniform who steps out on the street for the first time in this city has been as well-prepared as is possible to meet and handle his first drunk, his initial gang fight or his opening traffic accident.

"We can't go out on the street with them," Capt. Walter E. Krasny says, "but we can and do make certain they have been given training of the sort which should cover any and every situation they might encounter."

Every new officer assigned to a working platoon of the Ann Arbor Police Department has completed a rigorous, six-week training program, passed a stiff physical examination and written a dozen examinations on courses involving law enforcement.

THE FIRST DAY: Police Chief Rolland J. Gainsley (right) discusses the maintenance of training notebooks with recruits Robert J. Scofield, Allen D. Doades, Bernard Price and

Larry A. Collar. Trainees are required to keep up a notebook which includes all phases on instruction.

But before a young man ever is started on a training program Police Chief Rolland J. Gainsley and his staff have a fair idea of his general worth.

Each applicant first fills out a standard form at the city's personel office and then is given a general intelligence test, covering a variety of topics. If he obtains a passing grade on that test and his educational (high school graduate or equivalent) and other qualifications meet the required standards, his forms are turned over to Chief Gainsley for processing.

The chief assigns Uniform Lt. Harold E. Olson to investigate the personal background of each applicant. This investigation includes a visit by the lieutenant to the applicant's home city, interviews with friends, neighbors, and family, talks with business and professional persons about the applicant and a check with schools or colleges he may have attended. In the course of the investigation Olson compiles a penetrating picture of each applicant, details his strong points and failures and makes written reports on the potential of the young man as a police officer.

FIRE WHEN READY: Traffic Lt. H. G Schlupe (left) gives direction in the use of

police guns to the recruit class which fires regularly on the department's pistol range.

When the background check is completed, it is turned over to Chief Gainsley who decides which of the applicants will be selected as trainees.

Recruit classes range in size from two to six men at a time. The small classes permit individual instruction, rarely possible in larger cities where 20 to 100 men are in training at the same time.

The six-week course finds every top command officer in the department being used to lecture or demonstrate on various fields of law enforcement. Lt. H. D. Schulpe is firearm instructor, Lt. Henry G. Murray talks on local ordinances, Lt. Olson instructs on court procedure and evidence, Sgt. Howard Zeck handles traffic control and accident investigation. Other officers cover note-taking, public relations, self-defense and departmental regulation and policy.

SKULL PRACTICE: Uniformed Lt. Harold E. Olson (left) and Capt. Walter E. Krasny explain to the recruits by use of a blackboard

and chart elements in the law of arrest as the class enters its fourth week of training.

At one point mid-way in the training program the recruits are given a written test of 60 essay-type questions covering everything previously given them. The test lasts from two to five hours. Similar examinations are scheduled for the closing weeks of the course with shorter tests given weekly.

If during the training period a recruit's performance is consistently below standard or if it is apparent to the command he is not suited for police work, he is released.

ON THE STREET: Sgt. Howard R. Zeck uses a call box telephone on W. Ann St. to

notify headquarters of a phase of beat instruction being given the four recruits.

When the six weeks are up and the recruit has obtained passing grades in all phases of the program, he is fitted for a uniform, presented a badge and gun and assigned to a platoon.

He is placed on a probationary status for the first six months of his career and if he completes that period satisfactorily, he is then made a regular patrolman.

"No policeman can have too much training," says Chief Gainsley, who like Capt. Krasny, is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's three-month training course in Washington. "Crime control is getting more complex by the day. It's our feeling that when a recruit finishes his training and goes on duty here, he's just skimmed the surface of the knowledge he must accumulate in the years to come. We try to fit our men with everything they will need, now and in the future."

LAW OF THE CITY: Lt. Henry G. Murray goes over with the recruit class the city's "driving after drinking" ordinance, the only such law in the state and one of 128 local statutes which the new officers will be required to enforce.