For a firefighter hurt on the job or an EMS worker treating a critical patient en route to the hospital, certification gaps can leave a department dangerously exposed when faced with an accountability review and 24/7 media coverage. Likewise, if a police officer finds himself in a use-of-force situation and his personnel file doesn’t accurately reflect his previous conduct, the harsh glare of public opinion can quickly shine very bright on the entire department. Questions are bound to arise about the individual’s record, including training, certifications, and any internal actions to address past behavior. Could a dangerous or damaging incident have been prevented? If not, why not?
Reducing such risks is a major reason why more public safety organizations are moving away from ad hoc, piecemeal recordkeeping and toward an effective, comprehensive performance management system.
Envisage Technologies developed the Acadis® Readiness Suite specifically to help public safety organizations improve their standard of readiness by automating daily processes so that best practices are built in and naturally followed. It can help safety organizations build a proactive, positive culture that rewards initiative and resilience by synthesizing recruiting, training, operational data and performance tracking into a user-friendly ecosystem that eliminates any gaps in public safety recruiting, hiring, training, and certification.
Good hiring practices boil down to two questions: Are departments hiring the right people, and are they hiring the right kind of people? You can teach skills, but temperament and personality have a greater influence on how an individual responds to stress and treats other people.
Shockingly, there are no national standards on hiring police officers and first responders. But if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that it is essential to institute national best practice guidelines and standardized testing to ensure the right people (and the right kind of people) are hired and receive appropriate training and development over the long term.
It’s imperative that there be no gaps in the hiring process and that every hire be legally defensible in both a judicial court and the court of public opinion. Public safety agencies must be prepared every day to defend their hiring, firing, and due process procedures.
Just as antibodies can help fight a virus, the right software can protect public safety organizations from costly errors. Acadis provides the tools to directly connect certification requirements and corresponding actions in the field. A solution that maintains and organizes detailed training, certification, and performance evaluation records can save time and improve transparency.
Heroes on the front lines of public safety—those who abide by the rules, are competent in their duties, and show individual initiative—should be acknowledged and rewarded. Acadis makes it easy to track patterns of behavior, with no gaps in recordkeeping. Comprehensive and continual assessment helps create and sustain a strong and respected culture in the ranks, and ensures that promotions, as well as hiring, follow data-driven principles.
The promise of transparency is just lip service if it’s not accompanied by action. The events of 2020 helped highlight some shortcomings in implementing positive principles on the job. It is one thing to talk about desired policies and behaviors, but quite another to translate those principles into tangible action.
Organizations need training, certification, and ongoing guidance that can be tracked, monitored, and archived with no gaps in between. Performance metrics should be accessible and shareable: Without analytics, accountability cannot be tracked, and the pledge of accountability is no more than empty rhetoric.
Many organizations face these questions:
If you are not satisfied with your answers to the questions above, Envisage can help. Let us show you how you can close those gaps.
Posted on Dec 22, 2020
