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 Technology & Development Center |
Violence
Awareness Training
for Field Employees
As shown in the Project Timeline (Appendix A), the goal for Fiscal Year 1999 was to complete early development work for all modules and to start shooting the videotape that will be used in the modules.
Meetings were held at MTDC during February of 1999 between members of the project team, M. Caroline Deaderick of the Office of Safety and Occupational Health, and Pat Henderson, Program Analyst with Forest Service Law Enforcement. Caroline and Pat had already done substantial development work that proved to be invaluable in setting the parameters of the project. They also turned over several boxes of related materials they had systematically compiled. These materials were analyzed to extract information useful for the project and to determine whether any existing training programs could be adapted by the Forest Service.
Incident reports from Forest Service Law Enforcement dating back several years were analyzed. An effort was made to gather and code information on as many known incidents of violence or threats of violence as possible. Incident reports from other government land management agencies (Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and others) were also analyzed.
Based on these materials, a tentative typology of typical incidents was developed to serve as a starting point for further development work. Given the lack of detail in the written records and the fact that most incidents are never recorded, indepth interviews were needed to fully understand the extent and nature of employee exposure to violence or threats of violence.
The first set of interviews began in June 1999 in the Northern Region. Northern Region law enforcement officials helped identify about 40 Forest Service employees who had experienced violent encounters or threats of violence in recent years. From this pool, 16 employees were selected to be interviewed. The interviews lasted from 45 minutes to over 2 hours. Interviews were tape recorded so they could be transcribed and coded. As interviews were carried out across various locations in the Northern Region, the study team was identifying Forest Service workers who could later appear on camera and possible locations where video footage could be shot.
Given the national scope of the training program and regional variations in the nature of violent encounters, the team needed to conduct interviews in various parts of the country. Also, based on the interviews completed in the Northern Region, the study team became aware of the need to interview not only those who had actually experienced violence or the threat of violence, but those who do not get into such encounters even though their work brings them into extensive contact with the public. Such employees have often developed effective techniques for avoiding or diffusing problems—techniques that can be taught to other employees. Pat Henderson made arrangements for the study team to conduct indepth interviews with 18 Forest Service employees in the Southwest Region.
The first video footage was shot the third week of August in and around Cooke City, MT. Included were interviews with local Forest Service worker Larry McKee and his wife. Considerable background footage was also recorded. Another video shoot took place in late September in Helena, MT. The main subject was Dave Turner, a minerals technician with the Helena National Forest. Additional background footage was shot.
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