The Port of Seattle Police Department’s PTO Program

Over the course of his career, Jon Schorsch has been engaged in public service. An experienced law enforcement officer, Jon Schorsch served 14 years as a police sergeant for the Port of Seattle Police Department. 

The Port of Seattle Police Department provides primary law enforcement services to the Port’s seaport properties. The department is committed to, among other things, providing professional law enforcement services. To meet this commitment, the department offers a Police Training Officer (PTO) program to newly hired officers, whether entry level or lateral. 

The PTO program establishes a training team for all recruits consisting of two PTO trainers, a sergeant, a commander, and an evaluator. During the program, the new recruits evaluate themselves and their performance on the job, learn from their mistakes, and journal everything they have learned to solidify their learning experiences. 

New recruits go through a 17-week PTO program while laterals go through an 8-week PTO program. During this time, the recruits monitor and evaluate their progress in 15 essential competencies and their PTO evaluators add comments to these written evaluations. During the final week, a board meeting takes place where recruits are asked a number of questions before being informed of the PTO cadre’s decision.

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