I was recently asked why do I like to have a copy of the agency’s policy and procedures for managing confidential informants (Human sources ) in the room when we are delivering training. While legislation and relevant case law can be easily found on the internet policy and procedures are often protected.
For the purposes of this discussion I will use the term policy to include both policy and procedures, and while similar they each perform separate functions. Policy should be a publicly available document and broad in scope. Procedures should cover every aspect of the role and therefore should be protected from public disclosure. In the classroom we need both.
My first response was to knock back the suspicion that I wanted to learn the agencies “secrets”. While an understandable thought the reality is that having been involved in managing human sources for going on forty years there is going to be nothing in the policy or in the procedures that I haven’t seen before. Policies and procedures regardless of jurisdiction, may vary greatly in content, quality and style but the basics are all very similar.
Here are three reasons I like to have the documents there.
It is often the first time that officers have looked at the policy in a training environment. They may know it is there but have never actually explored the content.It si a good opportunity to reinforce what the rules of the agency are.
It avoids conflict. Often officers do not know what their policy is. They may think they know and will die on a hill defending there interpretation. Much better to have it there ,read it out.and end the argument.
It helps identify vulnerabilities in the policy discussing operational activities. There is often a huge shortfall in policy documents with critical aspects being left open to individual interpretation.
As an additional benefit, what often happens is that a manager presents me with the documents over the lunch break and asks for me to cast an eye over them for any glaring errors. Training should always be about enhancing the agency in any way that the provider can. And having had the benefit of seeing how others do things its always good to share experience and best practice.