Decreasing Liability by Raising the Level of Performance

Corporal Harris, Training Officer with Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office describes how using Relias to train and onboard new hires streamlines the process, and Jail Commander Major Kinlein illustrates how quickly you can onboard and training with Relias, to exponentially exceed past traditional training rates. Corporal Harris also describes how attorneys pull training records when looking to build lawsuits, but their officers and staff use what they learn in their jobs and in practical situations, and his department sees a reduction in mistakes and this mitigates the liability and risk to his officers and department.

“Attorneys that are coming to us with lawsuits are pulling the training records. We at Rockdale County would like to say we have been trained, our officers have been trained in many various aspects and Relias Learning has helped us in that area.”

With the growing number of lawsuits that correctional facilities face, it’s important for jail commanders and administrators to identify ways to minimize use of force incidents on a day to day basis.

The Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office in Conyers, GA has a 232 bed facility and over 100 staff. Jail commander Major Mike Kinlein saw online training as an opportunity to better prepare staff for the job ahead.

“Prior to Relias, when we brought on new staff, we would sincerely do the best we could, but (the training) was not formalized. You essentially would have a new employee come to work and try to get in as much in their head as you could.”

Using online training, the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office was able to not only formalize this training—but also provide more content to educate staff. In turn, this has led to a decrease in use of force incidents, a decrease in complaints, and an increase in overall morale.

“Now, we can give them formalized training—so we may have a deputy that may have only been here 6 months, but they’ve received 5 years worth of training.”

Having that additional training has helped deputies at the sheriff’s office when conducting cell searches and making sure inmates understand what legal rights they have in a jail setting.

“The difference in conduct in this jail is enormous. It’s like night and day.”