In March 2019, Jason Devlin had the privilege of attending and instructing at the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) Conference. While attending multiple excellent courses over the week, there were a few courses on field training, decision-making, instructor development, and applying stress appropriately during training that really stood out. These classes got him thinking about his department’s field training program and the issues he was experiencing training the next generation of police officers.
About
Shortly after attending ILEETA, Jason had the opportunity to attend the Excellence in Training Class put on by Brian Willis of Winning Mind Training. During that class, Brian asked the students to think of a program they were responsible for and answer the following questions:
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What do you want to START doing that you aren’t already?
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What do you want to STOP doing that isn’t working?
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What do you want to CONTINUE doing that is working?
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What are you willing and able to CHANGE?
With those ideas fresh in his mind, Jason began writing his answers to those questions. By the time he was done, the seed of change had been planted. If these ideas could be turned into a new and different field training program, then his department would have an amazing program and the community would be better served. So, over the next six months, the original iteration of this field training program was designed and named after Jason’s current department. Later, he generalized these concepts so they could also be applied in other organizations and that became Nextgen Field Training.
Jason Devlin has been a police officer with a Phoenix-area (AZ) police department since 2003. He has served as a patrol officer, DUI officer, patrol sergeant, and is currently the training sergeant of the Professional Development Unit. His current duties include supervision of the Field Training Program, Emerging Leaders Program, and Decision-Making Training. Jason has been a keynote speaker and instructor at multiple law enforcement conferences (ILEETA, NAFTO, NASRO, etc.) on instructor development, adaptive decision-making, and field training. Prior to becoming a police officer, Jason was a 7th grade mathematics teacher. He has over 20 years of instructing experience and has received multiple instructor-related awards.
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