Abstract:
Communications Officers, the core of law enforcement emergency centers, are the first point of contact in an emergency. It is imperative to provide effective training and support geared towards retention and success in a comfortable environment. The purpose of this study was to create a training program evaluation supportive of persistence, motivation, and retention for this group (Roumell, 2019). This was a mixed methods study grounded in an explanatory sequential design. Quantitative data was collected using the BCO pretest and posttest that were generated from an approved test bank. The BCO pretest and post- test was given to 16 participants that were employees at Gwinnett County Police Department E911. Qualitative data was collected through the Basic Communications Officer (BCO) course Instructor Evaluation and participant interviews. The results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis provided evidence that creating an effective training program with structured curriculum could be a useful strategy to support retention and reduce employee burnout and turnover. This information could be used by management as evidence to support the use of structured curriculum, and the importance of ensuring that Training Officers, and others who assist in the training program, are effectively trained to deliver instruction in a way supportive of the needs of the adult learner.