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Learning Objectives

5-1:  Evaluate the pros and cons associated with higher education requirements for police officers.

5-2:  Appraise the results of research studies that examine the relationship between higher education and job performance.

5-3:  Identify the purposes of police training.

5-4:  Describe the three basic types of police training.

5-5:  Discuss some of the challenges related to training police organizations faces as well as some strategies to address those challenges.

Article 1
Blumberg, Daniel M., Luciano Giromini, Laura B. Johnson (2015). Impact of Police Academy Training on Recruits' Integrity. Police Quarterly, 0(0) 1-24. doi: 10.1177/1098611115608322

Police integrity, or the lack thereof, is a frequent topic throughout media, academia, and all law enforcement organizations. The issue has been addressed on an individual and organizational level but continues to raise as many questions as it answers. One argument is that police training causes declination in recruits’ values, which eventually leads to officers acting in unethical ways. The present study examined the extent to which police academy training impacts recruits’ self-reported integrity, which was measured at the beginning and end of academy training. Three different training formats (n1 ¼ 143, n2 ¼ 87, n3 ¼ 27) were observed, social desirability was assessed to control for response bias, and self-reported emotional intelligence was measured as a potential moderator variable. Results indicated that participants started with significantly higher than average levels of integrity (with Cohen’s d values ranging from .56 to .83) and training had no significant impact on their integrity scores, even when corrected for social desirability. The results were not impacted by the length of training, pre-academy level of emotional intelligence, or a variety of demographic variables. The study encourages law enforcement organizations to focus on ways to help their employees maintain high levels of ethical decision making.

1. How does academy training impact the integrity of recruits?
2. What are the implications of this study for police administrators?

Article 2
Getty, Ryan M., Robert G. Morris, John L. Worrall (2014). How Far From the Tree Does the Apple Fall? Field Training Officers, Their Trainees, and Allegations of Misconduct. Crime & Delinquency, 1-19. doi:  10.1177/0011128714545829

Grounded in both organizational- and individual-level theories, this study examined the relationship between police field training officers (FTOs) and their trainees’ subsequent allegations of misconduct. Trainees in the sample were each exposed to multiple FTOs, which presented a unique methodological problem. As such, multilevel models that permitted the nesting of individual trainees within multiple higher order groups of FTOs were estimated. Results revealed that approximately one quarter of the variation in trainees’ allegations of postsupervision misconduct was attributed to FTOs, suggesting the apple (trainee) indeed falls close to the tree (FTO). Implications for FTO selection and training are discussed.

1. What are the findings of this study?
2. What are the implications of this study for agencies’ field training?
3. What does this imply about police subculture and ethics?