Increasingly, the Abu Dhabi Police
is facing new challenges to deliver
a modern police service to an
increasingly complex community. As
Abu Dhabi continues to grow and thrive
so the demands made upon its police
service are changing. One of our roles
here is to support the foundation of
change by developing the new recruit
training at the Police School.
The International Policing Academy
at Bramshill is part of the National
Policing Improvement Agency, an
authorised agent of the UK government
providing training and development
and constructive relationships in many
countries across the world. In the
recent past they have trained over
35,000 officers in leadership, command
and operational specialisms. The
collaboration between the International
Policing Academy at Bramshill and
Abu Dhabi Police dates back nearly
10 years and was formalised in a
Memorandum of Understanding signed
in September 2006.
The current collaborative work is the
result of a presentation in July 2006
to His Highness Lieutenant General
Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of the Interior, and Brigadier
Mohamad Al Awadi Al Manhali, General
Director of Human Resources of the
Abu Dhabi Police Service. As part of
an exciting and challenging change
programme to develop their Human
Resource functions, a project was
initiated in September 2006 to transform
the recruit school from a military and
lecture-based training establishment to
a community-focused adult leaning style
educational establishment.
Three members of the International
Policing Academy at Bramshill have
been working directly with the staff
and students at the Police Schools to
revise the core philosophy to learning
and development. Paul Finnegan,
the Project Leader, describes the
initial issues which faced the team as
follows: "the approach we found when
we arrived was basically a military
system. Our approach has been to
embrace contemporary research on
adult learning which will provide the
new police officers with an integrated
curriculum and support the development
of their knowledge, understanding, skills,
attitudes and behaviour".
This work is not just a partnership
between the International Policing
Academy and Abu Dhabi Police, but
also includes linkages to other strategic
support supplied from the United
Kingdom in the shape of experienced
retired police officers who are working
under Paul Blewitt in the Abu Dhabi
Police Strategy Unit.
It has not just been a case of
developing the learning and development
at the school, but also of exploring a new type of policing approach which is
community-focused. This has not been
done in isolation, but has built on the
developments of the Strategy Team,
especially in terms of the concept of
comprehensive police stations which
will support the full range of policing
functions which we in the United
Kingdom regard as the norm.
To achieve this transition, the project
team have created the key attributes
required of a new recruit. These
form the basis of the new approach
to training, both in terms of the new
curriculum but also to allow continuous
assessment of the new student police
officers. These key attributes are:
communications, problem-solving,
working as part of a team, standards
of professional practice, personal
responsibility and knowledge.
The second major development
is the focus of the learning around
key policing issues. These are being integrated throughout the programme,
and include such essentials as:
community focus, public reassurance,
reducing crime, evidence gathering, and
social issues.
A new phase on the re-designed
course commenced in February with the
arrival of a new intake of police recruits.
As Dennis Congram, a Police Sergeant
from Kent Constabulary, explains: "these
new recruits are receiving a very different
experience to those who joined Abu Dhabi
Police in September 2006. They already
are reflecting on their development and
will be learning through a range of different
experiences all of which will focus on
getting them to think and act as police
officers. A good example is the new traffic
curriculum which will have them practicing
dealing with all aspects of traffic laws and
collisions and not just receiving lectures
about them."
The current project will be completed
in July this year, but this is seen as the
first part of the journey by Abu Dhabi
Police in using the new tools. The
changes have required a great deal of
work with the management, staff and
trainers to ensure that all the processes
are supporting the new systems.
Quality and evaluation have become
key words in the vocabulary of the new
school approach.
Colin Childs, an expert in
assessment, has worked to ensure that
the techniques are understood and
applied in a valid and reliable way. Colin
explains: "the new systems have to be
able to provide the organisation with
skilled recruits, and the ability to identify
those who have excelled, those who
have been fully competent and those
who may need additional support. It
means additional work for almost all of
the staff but I have been impressed with
their willingness to adopt the changes
as they clearly see the benefit."
Our relationship with Abu Dhabi Police
is an excellent example of how UK policing
can work effectively to develop other police
services throughout the world. Successful
collaboration such as this is vital for
creating democratic policing structures
which ensures proper civic policing and
develops partnerships between the police
and residents that helps to reduce crime
and build stronger communities.
Chief Superintendent Tim Meaklim is
the Abu Dhabi Programme Manager
for the British International Policing
Academy at Bramshill
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