TRAINING TYPIFICATION

The vocational training of the Belgian police officers is divided into four large categories: basic training, specialized training, advanced training, and on-going training.

Basic Training

Recruitment and selection procedure

Prior to his basic training, the candidate is recruited according to specific admittance criteria and on the condition of having certain diplomas. Then he can be selected by a procedure that includes four different tests:

• a test measuring the necessary cognitive capacities the candidate has;
• a personality test based upon selection techniques pertinent to the job;
• a medical and physical aptitude test which examines these two components as they pertain to the job;
• a selection hearing in front of a committee which ending in a final overall evaluation.

Basic training clearly stated

A basic training is provided for each of the four possible levels of the operational staff: auxiliary personnel, basic level personnel, mid-level personnel, and senior staff. Basic training is mandatory for every recruit wanting to become a police officer.

Each of the basic training programs aims to provide the police officer candidate with the necessary professional skills according to the level he or she is going to serve in. The profile to be achieved will allow the candidate to completely assume his functions within the police organization and to be able to detect, to analyse and to understand ever-changing and complex situations, to find adequate solutions to arising problems, and to implement these solutions within the legal framework.

This education, is characterized by its orientation towards the fundaments of a police officer's profession, favouring items like 'knowing how to be' and 'knowing how to become', ethics and police deontology, development of learning strategies, and the appropriateness between the police officer's profile and the evaluation system.

Specialized training

Every police officer already working as a basic level officer can obtain specialised levels, very often, requiring not only a high level of knowledge and know-how, but also a more developed behaviour and social aptitude. The candidate must thus correspond to a specific defined profile and has to fulfil certain conditions in order to follow and to succeed in a specialized training program. Succeeding in such training results in the obtaining of a diploma.

Some examples of specialized training: detective, motorway police officer, mounted police, K-9 officer, neighbourhood officer, criminal analyst, communications administrator, etc.
Particular attention is also given to the training of trainers: counsellors, lecturers, police practice instructors, etc.

Advanced training

This is a vocational training which aims to acquire new capacities and knowledges or to go into more detail regarding police functions. The training is meant for certain police officers in order to get a promotion.

The best example is the training ending in the receipt of a leadership diploma. Centred on the development of management and leadership skills, it is one of the conditions to pass from the rank of chief constable to that of chief superintendent.

On-going training

Finally, whatever rank or function (basic or specialized), every police officer receives on-going training during his career, allowing him or her to maintain and update his/her knowledge and skills, and to gain additional knowledge in order to provide quality work and, if need be, to reach a higher pay scale.

Some examples of on-going training: coping with violence and mastering dangerous situations, stress management, conflict resolution, victim assistance, intervention techniques, funds escorting, etc.

Other than these different trainings intended for members of the operational staff, there are also on-going and specialized training programs specifically intended for the civilian staff: strategic analysis, integration into the police environment etc.