With tight training budgets and limited time for law enforcement personnel to participate in training, what’s better than access to free, self-paced online resources and courses? The COPS Office recognizes the how crucial day-to-day law enforcement operations are to advancing public safety, which is why the COPS Office created the COPS Office Training Portal. The Portal allows entire law enforcement agencies to refresh and deepen their knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as learn new practices and procedures in a range of topics related to community policing. From applying evidence-based policing practices to homicide and violent crime reduction to tactical community policing for homeland security to ethical decision making and more, everyone from individual officers to entire departments can be trained at their own pace, at no cost.

New e-learning courses are added regularly, and getting started is as simple as creating an account and selecting the courses and resources that best fit your needs. Course progress is saved automatically, so it’s easy to start a course, complete a module or section, and then come back later when you have time. The online training fits your busy schedule, so there are no timed tests or pressure to finish in a certain timeframe.

The COPS Office wants to know the impact of these e-learning courses on participants, so at the conclusion of each course (and at later points in time following your training experience), you’ll have the opportunity to provide feedback. Here are a few insights provided by Portal course participants so far:

• “Using job related scenarios really helped me to be prepared to utilize the skills presented in the course.”
• “This course was very informative and easy to understand, I would not change anything about it.”
• “Excellent training”
• “Wonderful courses”
• “Outstanding”
• “Very Intuitive”

In addition to online courses, you’ll find many additional multimedia resources on the Portal. These are designed to be flexible learning tools, which you and your organization can implement in whatever ways work best for you; some of the resources are multi-functioning and can either be accessed online or downloaded for distribution or use in agency-wide training efforts. Examples of available resources include video training packages with accompanying facilitator’s guides, roll call training program materials, access to the COPS Office Resource Center (housing thousands of publications and toolkits), and the video series “What’s New in Blue” (featuring innovative projects, programs, and initiatives being implemented across the country).  The Portal also features a list of COPS Office-sponsored in-person courses, so if you or your agency are interested in hosting a training event, you can easily find the abstracts and contact information for courses from the homepage.

To ensure the success and ease of use for the Portal, the COPS Office partners with the Virginia Center for Policing Innovation (VCPI). If a technical issue arises, a course question needs clarification, or you wish to make suggestions regarding the Portal, the team at VCPI is available to assist via email or phone at (833) 650-7910.

Simply go to the COPS Office Training Portal to start the process. Additionally, the COPS Office Training Portal can be accessed on the COPS Office website through the training and technical assistance tab.

Melissa Bradley
Senior Policy Analyst
COPS Office

Sheila Gunderman
Director of Programs
Virginia Center for Policing Innovation (VCPI)

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