The Iron Triangle in Law Enforcement Training

Have you developed a training course but were frustrated by the lack of time and resources to develop the course to the extent you determined was necessary? Have you attended an outstanding course and thought to yourself the instructor must have had considerable time and support to create the course? If you answered yes to either question, you experienced the Iron Triangle at work.

In project management the Iron Triangle is a concept where time, cost, and quality intersect and directly impact each other within the development process.1 For example, if a business has a brief time to develop a project, but needs high quality results, then it will require a considerable financial investment. The cost comes from the increased number of resources needed to create a high-quality product in the shortest time possible.

Law Enforcement training development is no different. If the objective is to produce a high-quality training program, it will require time and resources to develop the program. A high-quality training program is one which fosters effective long-term retention and transfer of learning. This type of training requires integrating various training techniques such as high-fidelity scenarios with ecological dynamics, constraints led approaches to training, and other evidence-based training principles.2,3 Instructors need to understand the principles of behavioral and decision training4,5 and their relationship to effective learning.

The cost comes in ensuring the instructors involved in training development are educated with current evidence-based methods of instruction and have the necessary time to develop the training. Additional costs may come from participation in training provided through organizations like the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) or other training organizations.

Once instructors have started their journey into developing their knowledge, skills, and abilities, next comes the time necessary to develop an agency training course. How long will development take? That will depend on factors such as how many instructors are involved, how much time they can devote to the project, what equipment and related resources are available to them, and the training complexity. Regardless, there will be an investment in time and resources. How much time are we talking about?

The Association for Talent Development, indicates it can take 43-70 hours of course design for one hour of delivered classroom training.6 The Chapman Learning Alliance estimates it takes about 22 hours of development for one hour of delivered “simple learning content,” which may include re-purposed training materials for instructor-led training.7 These estimates include the development of lesson plans, handouts, workbooks, tests, etc.

Averaging the two estimates, it could take approximately 32.5 hours of curriculum development per hour of delivered instructor-led classroom training. As an agency moves into more effective and realistic training, the time investment could increase dramatically. These development time estimates can range from 217 hours to over 1000 hours per delivered scenario training hour, depending on complexity.6,7

Instructors may hear something to the effect of, “Why should we spend that much time and money developing evidence-based training when what we are doing is working?” Is it really working? Are students effectively demonstrating the learned skills in real-world applications? Studies show that the bulk of current law enforcement training is not as effective as people believe.2,3,8

When it comes to costs, what is the investment in effective training compared to compensation paid out in civil actions? Costs for 217 settled civil actions through 2022 until July 2023 were $2,340,780,094.9 The Washington Post reported $3B was paid in compensation by twenty-five agencies over ten years.10 This does not represent the costs associated with officer deaths, hospitalizations, outpatient care, investigations, overtime, insurance premiums, compliance requirements, and more.

If those costs were combined, then averaged for the approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. that would be $296,710 per agency. If spending some of that money at the front end on training will result in less money spent in civil actions and related costs, is it worth it? What about the impact on the community perception of law enforcement? Would more effective training translate into safer communities and reduce officer on-duty deaths and injuries? These are things which cannot be accurately computed in dollars and cents.

In training development think- quality, time, cost. If one picks fast and cheaply done, then quality (and people) may suffer. If one wants quality, it will take time and resources.

References

1.     Pollack, J., Helm, J., & Adler, D. (2018). What is the Iron Triangle, and how has it changed? International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 11(2), 527-547. DOI:10.1108/IJMPB-09-2017-0107

2.     International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training. (2020). Why law enforcement needs to take a science-based approach to training and education. https://www.iadlest.org/Portals/0/Files/Documents/IPAC/IPAC%20Science-Based%20Learning-Digital-Report.pdf?ver=57KHOzrqE02h-Cyeieb7Uw%3d%3d

3.     Koener, S., Staller, M. S., & Zaiser, B. (2023). Empowering police trainers: Introducing the constraints-led approach for the design of effective learning environments in police training. In Staller, M. S., Koerner, S., & Zaiser, B. (Eds.) Police conflict management Volume II: Training and education. Palgrave MacMillan.

4.     Vickers, J. (2003). Decision Training: An innovative approach to coaching. Canadian Journal for Women Coaching, 3(3).

5.     Vickers, J. (2007). Perception, cognition, and decision training: The quiet eye in action. Human Kinetics

6.     Kapp. K. M., & Defelice, R. A. (2009). Time to develop one hour of training. Association for Talent Development. https://www.td.org/newsletters/learning-circuits/time-to-develop-one-hour-of-training-2009

7.     Chapman, B. (2010). How long does it take to create learning? Chapman Alliance. http://www.chapmanalliance.com/howlong/

8.     O’Neill, J., O’Neill, D. A., Weed, K., Hartman, M. E., Spence, W., & Lewinski W. J. (2019). Police academy training, performance, and learning. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12:353-372

9.     National Police Funding Database. (2023, July 17). Settlements. Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://policefundingdatabase.org/explore-the-database/settlements/

10. Alexander, K. L., Rich, S., & Thacker H. (2022, March 9). The hidden billion-dollar cost of repeated police misconduct. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/police-misconduct-repeated-settlements/

This article was written by Matt Bloodgood and originally published in the Spring 2024 edition of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association Journal. https://www.ileeta.org/ileeta-journal-spring-edition-june-2024/