True North Policing

As Minnesota began to experience the COVID-19 epidemic and the “Stay Home MN” executive order went into place, many EMS, fire, and police departments around the state found it necessary to cancel scheduled training, change work schedules, and make adjustments to their models for service delivery.

This was done to limit the number of personnel who could potentially be exposed to COVID-19 and to give departments flexibility if staff became ill or needed to be quarantined. Along with these changes, law enforcement agencies also began to report a decrease in their calls for service, making these very interesting times indeed.

But with changes and challenges also come opportunities. One silver lining in these interesting times is the chance for officers to engage in many of the important online training resources available to them. One of these is a free e-learning course entitled True North Constitutional Policing. 

A cool thing about the True North Constitutional Policing course is that it highlights Minnesota law enforcement, as it was created with the help of 14 Minnesota law enforcement agencies. It’s also approved by the Minnesota POST Board for 5 credit hours toward the required 16 credit hours of education.

Personnel that successfully complete the True North course will earn five mental health credits toward the POST-mandated learning objectives for: Crisis intervention and Mental illness Crisis; Conflict Management and Mediation; and Implicit Bias, Community Diversity, and Cultural Differences.

Some of the things law enforcement officers have said about the True North course:

“It was one of the best five hours of any online training I have experienced.”
– Todd S. Schuster, City of Cambridge Police Chief

“[The training] makes you take a look at yourself. It makes you feel like you’re involved with something bigger than yourself. This is a training that [all law enforcement officers] will learn from.” 
– Brian Vycital, Belle Plaine Officer

“I found the modules easy to follow and of interest. It is great when an organization can take mandated training and make it interesting and meaningful.”
– Greg Weber, City of Eden Prairie Police Chief

Along with highlighting Minnesota law enforcement and providing POST-mandated credits, True North Constitutional Policing also reminds officers about individual integrity, personal accountability, ethical decision-making, and challenges them to remember why they do what they do. These reminders are important at any time, but especially during these most challenging and interesting of times.

For more information and to enroll, go to www.truenorthpolicing.com.
If you need help registering or if you’ve got questions, please contact Admin@Truenorthpolicing.com.

Up next: More COVID-19 Updates

Stay safe and stay healthy,
Rob