Degree Name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Program

Educational Leadership

Date of Award

5-2010

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

W. Hal Knight

Committee Members

Terrence A. Tollefson, Louise L. Mackay, Jo Alison Lobertini

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the amount of training each sheriff's office requires in North Carolina and if that training includes multiagency exercises designed to mitigate a critical-incident response and identify any concerns from those training events. The study also compared departmental strength (number of sworn officers per agency) with county populations and geographic area of the state the agency is located in with the number of hours required annually by each agency. Finally, each agency was asked if it had participated in a multiagency exercise and a multiagency incident and to identify any issues that occurred within that training or response.

This research indicated that over half of the sheriffs' offices had completed mandated training beyond what North Carolina requires. Only slight differences between regions of the state (mountains, piedmont, or coastal plain) were detected as well as slight differences within the county populations. However, it was discovered that the size of a sheriff's office did have significance; larger sheriff's offices often required more training than smaller offices. Sheriff's offices that had experienced multiagency exercises and multiagency incidents were more likely to exceed the North Carolina minimum training requirements as well. Finally, respondents who had participated in either a multiagency exercise or a multiagency incident indicated common problems and concerns within those responses. The reoccurring problems and concerns were; communications, training, and organization or combinations of the three.

Document Type

Dissertation - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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