The police must rise to the challenges posed by change by developing new concepts for action, using new technologies and deploying existing resources more effectively and efficiently.
The diverse developments outlined above mean that the demands placed on police officers are both growing and constantly changing. Changing requirements go hand in hand with the need to adapt the skills required to perform their duties to the circumstances and requirements. Qualified personnel are the prerequisite for citizen-oriented, professional and lawful police work.
Interlinking initial and further training
While the professional qualification training for the senior police service teaches the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities for the first years of the profession, the aim of police training is to maintain, adapt, improve and expand the professional skills acquired through training, but also to regain them (e.g. after a longer period of leave).
The diverse tasks of the police require specialization in numerous areas of work. In addition, further training must be geared towards the specific requirements of the various functions and jobs.
The LAFP NRW - the training provider for the NRW police
As the training provider for the North Rhine-Westphalian police, the LAFP NRW guarantees practical, needs-based and constantly updated training with its four specialist areas (central training). The range of training courses on offer is the result of a needs survey carried out in the police authorities and a professional assessment by the three higher police authorities (NRW State Office of Criminal Investigation, NRW State Office for Central Police Services, NRW State Office for Police Training, Further Training and Personnel Matters) and the NRW Ministry of the Interior. This offer is designed, prepared, implemented and followed up by police officers with special didactic and methodological training and professional experience. The technical and didactic qualification of the teachers also takes place at the LAFP NRW.
Centralized training is effective and efficient
A wide range of police-specific training courses ensures successful and professional police work. The LAFP NRW is the central training provider for the uniform, effective and efficient training of the North Rhine-Westphalian police.
The central police standards are taught on the basis of the latest pedagogical findings at five locations specially equipped for police training and further training. The dovetailing of the content of basic and advanced training is of particular importance.
National and international developments relevant to the police are taken into account in our training courses in close cooperation with the NRW State Criminal Police Office (LKA NRW), the NRW State Office for Central Police Services (LZPD NRW) and the specialist police departments of the NRW Ministry of the Interior (IM NRW).
We also promote compliance with standards in local further training as part of targeted multiplier training and by providing personal advice and support to those responsible for further training in the police authorities.
Focus on the range of police tasks
Our training program, which our four departments are responsible for developing, includes specially designed training measures on the following topics
Further training in the area of operations and emergency response
Further training for special operations includes the qualification of all special forces: special task forces, mobile task forces, negotiation groups and technical task forces. However, police commanders, staff and riot police units are also the target group of our specific training
Further training for operational situations in daily service includes the qualification of operational trainers, police sports trainers, multipliers (e.g. in tutoring) as well as subject-specific further training for instructors in training.
Service dogs
A special feature is our own breeding and training of service dogs. Through our service dog handlers with specialized service dogs, we guarantee advice and operational support for the district police authorities in order to do justice to the high operational value of the service dog.
Foreign missions
The quality of the preparation for foreign missions of police officers from all over Germany and the support of mission participants is internationally recognized and certified.
Further training in the area of driving and safety training
"The safe way to the mission site! Minimize risks professionally!"
This is one of the aims of our driving and safety training. As a basis, the training participants acquire confidence in driving service vehicles with special rights of way, for example for motorcycles, trucks and buses.
We provide target group-specific training for special units, observation and task forces, police state security and personal protection. The LAFP NRW also trains the trainers in the district police authorities. We also offer special seminars on driving traffic surveillance vehicles.
We are specializing the new investigating officers for their future areas of responsibility with a special introductory training course lasting several weeks. In addition, the content of criminal investigation work for the classic areas of crime, such as burglary, robbery or juvenile delinquency, through to the handling of sexual offences, death investigations and the fight against organized crime is taught. In addition to theoretical legal principles, aspects of tactical implementation are trained and software-supported analysis and evaluation methods are integrated.
In the Cybercrime area, the latest methods of searching for and securing evidence as well as securing data in highly complex computer systems are taught. Furthermore, investigative aids are provided for the virtual and yet real world of the Internet.
The careful handling of victims is an important part of police work. Members of the police acquire the necessary knowledge about police support options in the area of victim protection and victim support - as well as for the various areas of crime prevention or the evaluation and analysis of crime, from tactics to strategy development.
In today's road traffic, the most valuable legal interests of life, physical integrity and significant material assets are constantly at risk. In order to minimize this risk, road traffic is subject to numerous restrictions. However, these rules can only effectively control the behavior of road users if they are monitored. For traffic monitoring, LAFP instructors train and qualify police officers in specialized training courses on speed measurement technology, passenger and goods traffic control and vehicle tuning. Seminars on monitoring drug abuse in road traffic are specially designed for the police service.
On the subject of "Preventing accidents", the LAFP NRW teaches the basics of road safety education and awareness, including the necessary method training, for road safety advice and the district service of the district police authorities. This is followed by age-group-specific training measures for road safety work with children, young people, young drivers, adults, senior citizens and people with disabilities. The LAFP NRW offers training courses on educational puppetry, a professional medium for many target groups, as a unique police training course in Germany.
The area of "police victim protection" after serious traffic accidents plays an equally important role. As a rule, a traffic accident is not an everyday occurrence for all those involved, resulting not only in physical damage but often also psychological stress. In principle, it is the duty of every police officer to initiate appropriate victim protection measures.
The complexity of police victim protection after serious traffic accidents places very high demands on the victim protection officer of the traffic directorates and requires in-depth specialist knowledge, which is taught here at the LAFP in an in-depth seminar.
The recording and processing of road traffic accidents remains an important task in day-to-day police work. We provide further training for the security service and managers so that the large number of minor road traffic accidents in particular can be recorded quickly and with legal certainty for all parties involved (and road safety restored). Further training here includes recognizing and securing accident sequences and traces, correctly classifying the course of the accident and finally documenting it in an accident report with a digital sketch.
The NRW police focus on the (highly qualified) recording and processing of traffic accidents with seriously injured and fatally injured people. For this purpose, selected officers are specialized, who then work in accident investigation teams and/or are exclusively responsible for this in the traffic commissioner's offices. State-of-the-art technology is used here. We provide further training and courses on the use of 3D scanners, for example, and in future drones with photographic technology and IT equipment for reading digital vehicle tracks. There are also specialist seminars for officers who deal with the most serious traffic accidents or accidents involving fugitives or manipulated accidents.
The LAFP NRW continues to offer seminars for police leaders to support them in the performance of their duties and in dealing professionally with the challenges of day-to-day leadership.
Consultations for managers at all levels and employment relationships in the NRW police force are organized and carried out by the Central Office for Leadership and Management Consultancy Tools.
The LAFP NRW advises the police authorities on the creation and implementation of new concepts, such as official health management.
The portfolio also includes further training for the staff areas of the NRW police, behavior-oriented seminars (stress and conflict management) and seminars in the field of social and political education. The Psychosocial Support Center offers supervision for all employees of the NRW police.
The training courses on information and communication technology meet the latest requirements.
On modern computer platforms, participants have the opportunity to expand their knowledge on topics such as system administration, operating systems, databases or police-specific applications.
The training courses for the weapons, equipment and motor vehicle industry are based on the guiding principle that the technology is "available and ready for use" in an emergency.
In this way, we enable 30,000 to 35,000 police officers each year to keep pace with developments relevant to the police and to develop new areas of police work through specialization.
Actuality, needs-based and practical relevance are our claim
Every year, the LAFP NRW reviews and updates the training courses on offer and assesses the needs of all police authorities, in consultation with the other higher police authorities LKA NRW, LZPD NRW and the IM NRW. On the basis of the annual training program approved by IM NRW, the police authorities book the training places they have registered with LAFP NRW using the online procedure.
Experienced and pedagogically and didactically trained police officers, as well as academics, create practice-oriented and adult-oriented training concepts according to uniform standards and carry out the training events, supported by external speakers if necessary.
In order to keep up to date, they can access the extensive and constantly expanding range of materials in the LAFP NRW library at the Selm and Neuss locations. Modern media in the form of e.g. explanatory films or videos - created by our own media services - round off the educational offerings. Police educational work is becoming increasingly digitalized. The LAFP NRW takes this into account with its own office.