Bond Solon Reviews

The course trainer was wrong in her in interpretation of when it is necessary to caution a D. Unfortunately she was rather rude in the way she dealt with this. This was addressed at the following days training at my instigation, however the fact that the initial training was wrong was never conceded. One trainer appeared to be under the impression TS enforcement powers originate from PACE. Whilst we need to have regard to PACE our enforcement powers originate from elsewhere. The last exercise on Day 2 - I was left bewildered by what this was intended to achieve. The trainer clearly stated that in some circumstances it was possible to admit an interview clearly in breach of pretty much every PACE interview requirement. Further, we were required to argue for it's inclusion regardless of the fact that it contained no evidence on which any prosecutor would seek to rely. Surely this is not best practice and not what we should be taking from the course. The trainer had a point to make, and that appeared to involve making the attendees uncomfortable - this was exacerbated by her making up facts on the spur of the moment that were not part of the original exercise brief. The attendees have a very varied level of experience. I have spoken to people who have only been with the Service for a matter of months or weeks. They are in a state of complete confusion. Personally, what I did know to be 100% correct was wrongly cast into doubt.

Olwen came across as an very nice, polite and clearly experienced in her area of law. That said, it was clear during the session that Olwen was not familiar with the content, and was overly reliant on the manual, with majority of the session spent with Olwen sharing her screen and reading from the manual. I didn't feel that i learnt anything which i couldn't have achieved by reading the manual in my own time, and it did not feel like a good use of time, and definitely not worth the cost of the session. In my other Bond Solon modules, the trainer has spent time going through the assessment ensuring learners are familiar with the criteria and what to consider. When asked about the assessment, Olwen told the cohort that it wasn't anything to do with her, and she couldn't help or advise. I found this bizarre given my other sessions, and again, contributed to the session feeling like a waste of time. I also think that the session could and should have been more tailored to it's audience. I appreciate that the sessions predominately look at criminal law, but my cohort was overwhelmingly HR based. Given this, i think effort should have been made to include more relevant material/discussions to ensure we got the most out of the module.

Not what I expected. This was a very beginner level session, I was hoping for a more senior masterclass. Not the trainers fault though. I assume little thought has been given to differing development needs.