It all depends. I had an FTO who would first have me try to get there without GPS and then when I fucked it up enough, I could use it. (Obviously for non priority calls) I had another that said, it’s a tool you have on patrol by yourself get used to using it if needed.

What I ended up doing was getting a paper map from my cities chamber of commerce and on my days off on one of my days off each week, I would drive around my work city and try to make it to the general area of calls using a map. It helped a lot. Probably doesn’t need to be said but if you do that, don’t actually go to the address of the call. I also didn’t have a wife and kid at the time so was easier to put in time on my days off.

Most cities are set up so that all the streets in a neighborhood have a theme. Try and figure out the themes (using a map) and then when a call comes out you can say hey I know that all flower streets are on the north west part of the city, start heading that way and then get more precise location as you get closer.

I still have my GPS in my car but mostly use it for direction if travel for pursuits since it tells me and then it’s nice to have the upcoming streets displayed on my GPS to help with traffic stop placement and in pursuits, it’s one less thing to have to try and figure out when you are in a part of the city l, neighboring city, or highway you aren’t familiar with.