Consulting doubles cost of Raleigh police training trip

Raleigh, N.C. — For a third time, the Raleigh Police Department has revised the total cost of a training trip taken by two dozen police lieutenants to Civil War battlefields in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania in June.

Department spokesman Jim Sughrue initially said the department spent $7,700 on food and lodging during the three-day trip. A week later, the department added another $6,000 to the total, expenses Sughrue said went toward consultant fees, transportation and incidentals such as museum fees and parking.

According to a contract between the city and Gallagher-Westfall Group of Indiana, RPD paid another $11,995 for consulting services, including training materials, five days of instruction and travel expenses for the consultants.

Chief Harry Dolan has defended the outlay, attributing a decline in the number of complaints about excessive force by officers to a better trained force.

A spokesman for the Teamsters Local 391, which represents the police interest group Raleigh Police Protective Association, argued the trip was a waste of time, resources and money.

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Latest Comments

Integrity WWJD for a Klondike Bar?

I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

nycdetective
August 15, 2012 1:35 p.m.

I have another idea. How about the lieutenants read my book and discuss it with citizen groups. They would learn a lot. Of course it is a lot easier to talk about reforming our police than doing it. For the most part, police throughout the world are the same. And the same insights and direction for improving them hold true. Police should be well-trained, restrained in their use of force, honest, and courteous to all. To take a look at how to improve police, see “Arrested Development: A Veteran Police Chief Sounds Off About Protest, Racism, Corruption and the Seven Steps Necessary to Improve Our Nation’s Police” (Amazon.com in US and EU). My blog is at http://improvingpolice.wordpress.com where I discuss these and other current police improvement issues. Good luck and may we all experience not just good but great policing!

davidccouper
August 15, 2012 11:59 a.m.

Raleigh has 14 Police Officers answering phones and filing reports for over $70,000 dollars/year. Yes, seargants answerng the phones for 70k. This is insane. These could be filled by civilians for less than 35k.

Southern Discomfort
August 14, 2012 7:07 p.m.

"Either that or they have been ticketed or arrested for some wrong they were alleged to have committed. Call your next case. BE"

Yes that is definitely me. Let me see, my last ticket was something like thirty five years ago and aside from that no cop contact at all from the wrong side. I have had to deal with them after some burgles since the insurance companies demand cop reports but I have always called a friend or two to be sure the cops were closely watched while in my property. One burglary at a time is quite enough.

piene2
August 14, 2012 5:08 p.m.

CONTINUES FROM EARILER COMMENTS: THIS DOES NOT EVEN TAKE IN TO CONSIDERATION THE COST OF MANUALS AN OTHER PRINTED MATERIALS AN VIDEOS FOR DEMOSTRATIONS DURING THESE SO CALLED TRAININGG SESSIONS/CONFERENCES AN SOO FORTH THANK YOU

pbjbeach
August 14, 2012 3:16 p.m.