The Mesa FTO Program documents set policy standards, formulate the future direction of the FTO Program, and establish evaluation guidelines.  The documents also track, in checklist form, the Officers' in Training (OITs') progress throughout the program.  As a means of measuring success, the Attrition Table tracks the retention rate of the FTO Program.  Retaining qualified OITs translates to a saving of resources, a financially sound practice, and increases the number of qualified officers on the street.  To get an overview of our program documents, scroll this page. To download any of these forms (Word or PDF), please visit the downloads page.

FTO Policy Manual

The Mesa PD FTO Policy Manual defines the mission of the FTO Program.   The manual also outlines the documentation and the roles and responsibilities of all of the members in the program.  Special programs are also outlined in the Policy Manual.  For more information about the Mesa Police FTO Policy manual, please contact Greg Loewenhagen via phone at 480.644.4472 or via e-mail at gregory.loewenhagen@cityofmesa.org.

Strategic Planning

Future goals of the FTO Program were developed by receiving input from OITs, FTOs, sergeants, and staff members.  The users designed the program and its goals.  A Three Year Plan was developed in the spring of 1997.  By the summer of 1999, the Three Year Plan was completed.  The FTO Unit then devised a Two Year Addendum of Program Goals, which were achieved by 2001.  Developing a plan as the example provided can resolve several issues for a department's FTO Program.   A plan can bring professionalism and respect to an FTO Program as the items in the plan are accomplished.  Incentives will encourage members to want to become FTOs in departments where recruitment of quality FTOs is a problem.  Remember that the recruits trained in an FTO Program are the future of the department.  Resources assigned to an FTO Program should be considered an investment in the future of the department.

Standard Evaluation Guidelines (SEGs)

The Standard Evaluation Guidelines are used to evaluate OITs.  FTOs strictly adhere to SEGs when evaluating OITs and must refer to the SEGs while completing the Daily Observation Report.  For more information about the Standard Evaluation Guidelines, please contact Greg Loewenhagen via phone at 480.644.4472 or via e-mail at gregory.loewenhagen@cityofmesa.org.

OIT Checklist

The OIT Checklist is used to track the OIT's progress through the four phases of the FTO Program.  Instead of spending a predetermined amount of time in a particular phase, the FTO Unit professes proficiency in required training subjects before moving on to the next phase.  Consequently, an OIT may spend more, less, or the same amount of time in a phase as he would in a program that has a set time for each phase; advancement is dependent on proficiency. 
Download the Checklist in PDF. 
Download the Checklist in Microsoft Word.

Attrition Rate

The Mesa Police Department started training its own recruits in an Arizona Police Officers Standards and Training Board (AZPOST) Certified Academy in 1994.  The cost of training a recruit exceeded $60,000 per recruit.  Mesa PD was losing too many recruits in the Academy and the FTO Program, which was consuming too much of the police department's financial resources.  In the spring of 1997, the FTO Unit resolved to develop a Strategic Plan to overhaul the FTO Program.  The plan was designed to retain more recruits thereby saving valuable financial and manpower resources.  The attrition rate chart illustrates how the has decreased since the FTO Program was redesigned.