Field Training Officers

An excerpt from the book, “Pensacola’s Finest in Pictures”

By Mike Simmons

One of the most important positions a police officer can assume is trainer. Training is what passes policies and practices from one generation to another. Failure to do so lowers the quality of work.

In the police world, a new employee must first graduate from the law enforcement academy before becoming a police officer. Next, the trainee enters into the Field Training Program. The Field Training Program is a one-on-one training course in which new officers are trained in department-specific duties and responsibilities. First, the trainee is assigned to a Field Training Officer – called an FTO – for the first phase of training. The FTO is the teacher, and the trainee is the student, one on one. When Phase One is complete, the trainee is assigned to a second FTO, then a third. Finally, the trainee returns to his original FTO for the final phase. Upon graduation from the FTO program, the trainee is assigned a regular beat on a shift, to be watched closely by a sergeant.

Pensacola Police Department established a Field Training program in 1983. The first FTO squad at the Pensacola Police Department consisted of the best and brightest of specially trained officers: L-R: First row: Bob Cotita, Lamar Pate, John Sammons, Steve Johnson, and Scott Pelham. Second row: Rick Whisenant, Scotty Sanderson, John Mathis, Mike Thompson, and Tim Parker. Third row: Arthur Nutt, Dexter Rogers, Dennis Waldron, John Baldwin.