Bespoke TMO Training for Police Service Northern Ireland
At the start of this year, TMS Consultancy was asked to design and deliver a bespoke Traffic Management Officers course for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). It was an interesting experience for the team, bringing TMS’ traffic management training expertise to a part of the UK with its own distinct legislation, policing structures and operational context.
Building a Bespoke Traffic Management Course
Northern Ireland’s legislative and policing landscape differs from the frameworks our trainers are accustomed to working within elsewhere in England, Wales and Scotland. The course content was therefore adapted to incorporate as much Northern Ireland-specific legislation, guidance and practice as possible.
This involved discussions with a representative from the Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland’s equivalent to National Highways and the Department for Transport, along with a senior officer from the PSNI Roads Policing Unit. Working together, these discussions helped shape a five-day course for 12 delegates, covering traffic management concepts and principles, road safety engineering, highway design, and the laws and guidance governing road and traffic management in Northern Ireland.
Learning in both directions
The course ran smoothly, with plenty of questions, interaction and debate from delegates. The depth of discussion continued through to the final assessment, with delegates producing detailed and well-reasoned answers.
For our trainers, it was as much a learning experience as a teaching one, providing valuable insight into a part of UK policing and traffic management that isn’t often seen from the outside.
That two-way engagement came through clearly in the feedback shared with us following the course. Delegates highlighted the relevance of the content to their roles, as well as the practical value of the guidance and examples covered during the training.
One Traffic Management Officer commented:
“I would like to express my appreciation for the recent Traffic Management Officers Course. I found the content was well-structured, informative and extremely useful and directly relevant to my role. I appreciated how the material was presented and the guidance and examples will be valuable in my work.”
Traffic Management Officer
The course also demonstrated the importance of adapting training to reflect local legislation and operational requirements. An Inspector within the Road Policing Development Unit highlighted the team’s approach to meeting the specific needs of delegates in Northern Ireland:
“All I can add is that the team were fantastic to deal with and made every effort to ensure that our needs were covered, especially with the differences in legislation in Northern Ireland.”
Inspector, Road Policing Development Unit
Find out more
Whether your team is based elsewhere in the UK or further afield, we can design and deliver bespoke traffic management training tailored to your local legislation, guidance and operational needs.
Delivering training in-house can also bring significant cost and time efficiencies, allowing a whole team to be trained together without the disruption or expense of sending staff elsewhere.
Please get in touch with Steve Barnard, our Training Manager, to discuss how a bespoke course could benefit your organisation and find out more about potential costs.