Police operations

Police operations

Chapter 8 Socialization, Advancement, and Professionalism

Training Concepts and Philosophy

Historically there was no formal training for police officers.  Departments put untrained personnel in a uniform and give them a gun, taught them through “on-the-job” (OJT = on job training).  A 1956 survey showed that 85 percent of all officers received no pre-service training though they were working in the field.

Today there is consensus, of those in the field, that training is needed before assigning law enforcement tasks.  There is little agreement on the amount, type, and format of training.  “The term “training” means different things to different people and the term “education” refers to what one has learned.

Learning is a process that changes a person’s knowledge, behavior, or attitude.  Both training and education involve learning.  The focus then should be on process and outcomes.

Training VERSUS education debate

Training emphasizes skill and ability development; education emphasizes concepts, theory, and critical thinking.  Training inculcates the “how” and Education focuses on the “why”.  Training and education are preferred by many and some would say that today’s officers need both.

Major Purposes of Training

Training orients the person to their job or position.  It indoctrinates the person to identify with the organization and the believe in its goals and objectives.  Training transfers the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job of policing.  Training standardizes procedures and increases efficiency of the police officer.  It builds confidence in the person, improves safety and helps assure survival within the career.  Training also yields other benefits such as morale and discipline.

Training provides the standards by which police conduct is measured and judged acceptable.  Related to the concepts of conduct and discipline are issues of ethics, morality, societal values, democratic values, and the public interest.

Learning Domains and Styles

Cognitive: refers to acquiring new knowledge, understanding, and thinking skills.

Psychomotor: relates to motor skills and the ability to physically perform a specific behavior.

Affective: relates to learning that impacts one’s values, emotions, and/or attitudes.

Cognitive domain levels

• Knowledge: the ability to remember learned material.
• Comprehension: the ability to grasp the meaning of words/concepts.
• Application: the ability to use learned material in any situation.
• Analysis: the ability to break down material into its component parts so its structure can be understood.
• Synthesis: the ability to put parts together for a new whole.
• Evaluation: the ability to judge the value of material presented.

Emphasis is placed on the learning styles of the learner, how they acquire and process new information and experiences.

• Visual (seeing)
• Auditory (hearing)
• Tactile (small motor movements)
• Kinesthetic (large motor movements)

• The following websites will allow you to check your learning style:

• xu.edu/lac/learning_styles.htm
• ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm

Methods of Instruction

• Lecture
• Role playing
• Scenario-based
• Problem-based
• Computer-based

• Modern techniques can include virtual reality.

Types of Training: Mandatory/Basic/Recruit/Entry-Level Training

Mandatory minimum training standards weren’t adopted until the late 50s and 60s.  California & New York established their Commissions on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) 1959.

Training hours vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.  Many academies exceed the state minimums.  View these Model Minimum State Standards: www.iadlest.org/modelmin.htm.

According to a survey in 2000, the median number of training hours for these listed agencies were:

• Municipal police = 720 hours
• Sheriff’s Departments = 640 hours
• State agencies = 960 hours

Reciprocity Between Jurisdictions

The question as to whether a police officer can transfer training received in one jurisdiction to another if an officer changes department?  The answer is Yes and No.  It depends on the state and the requirements of each jurisdiction.  Even within some states one agency may not accept the training of another.

FTO’S

“Formalized, actual on-the-job instruction by specially selected and trained personnel” called Field Training Officers (FTOs).  Field training usually starts after the basic police academy; it is a fourteen week program of additional training with a certified FTO who submits detailed evaluations .

Some remedial training may be required after the fourteen-week program before the department makes a decision to terminate the individual.  Some states/departments require FTO training as part of the mandatory basic training.  Other departments have a “Master Patrol Officer” which serve a similar function to that of a FTO.

Additional Training, sometimes called “refresher” training.  This is usually done at the department’s facility.  An example of this is Roll-call training, this type of training occurs within the confines of a roll-call where basic legal information, updates of policy, and trends are given.

Continuing Education Credit:

Continuing education credit may be offered by colleges and universities.  This type of education provides the officer with the ability to earn a degree in criminal justice or a graduate degree.  This program pays for approximately 80% of the college fees and books providing that the officer maintains a ‘B’ average or above.

Credit may be awarded in the form of hours or units, which usually apply to any state or local requirement where training hours are required each year.  Coupled with this is the ability for officers to receive educational incentive pay for their degree work.

Advanced/Specialized

This refers to those sessions that address specialty topics or material that is an extension of or is a more enhanced version of what was received at basic academies.  This type of training may be in K-9, narcotics, dealing with the mentally handicapped, etc.

Executive and Managerial Training

First-line supervisors and above are not born with the skills to supervise.  Training that deal with decision making, supervision issues and skills are addressed in this area of training.  Typical courses include:

• Leadership
• FTO program development
• Motivation
• Media relations
• Budgeting
• Public speaking skills
• First-line supervision

Some states have “command colleges”.  Pennsylvania has POLEX which is conducted at Penn State University.  The University of Louisville has the Southern Police Institute associated with their program and train police administrators from all over the world.

Citizen Police Academy

These programs are a means of establishing a liaison and dialogue between the police department and the community.  This type of program is open to residents of the community and covers many of the same topics taught in a regular police academy.  It was designed to give an overview of department’s policies and procedures to any member of the community who would be interested in knowing what police do.  One objective is to achieve a greater public awareness and understanding of police functions.

Higher Education and Training Merger

• – President Johnson’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice

The 19 person commission recommended that all police personnel with general enforcement powers should have baccalaureate degrees.  They recommended that “Police departments should take immediate steps to establish a minimum requirement  of a baccalaureate degree for all supervisory and executive positions”.

• — National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals

This commission stated that every police agency, should require as a condition of initial employment, the completion of at least the below listed college required hours no later than:

• 1975, two years of college education
• 1978, three years of college education
• 1982, four years of college education

1989– Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)

  This PERF report on the state of education in the police field found that 55% of all police officers in the study had completed two years of college, as compared to 15% in 1970.

PERF suggested that Law enforcement agencies should require a college degree for promotion and employment by 1995.  PERF stated that effective immediately, candidates for promotion to management/command ranks should have 4-yr degrees, also effective immediately, candidates for promotion to first-line/supervisory positions should have 60 college credits.  PERF suggested to motivate this that financial aid from federal government be given.

In (1988) the average education of officers was 13.6 years.  Persons possessing only a high school-level education are competing with baccalaureate and master’s degree applicants.  The average adult educational level in the US is higher than the 12^th grade.

Do citizens really want officers who are below the average national educational levels?

Research on Law Enforcement and Higher Education

Most research falls into 2 categories

• Behavioral measures
• Attitudinal measures

Findings have been inconsistent and sometimes conflicting.

Performance

Higher education may be relevant to many aspects of police work but should not be assumed to predict all areas of job performance.  It doesn’t require additional education to perform the basic duties of a police officer, there are other factors to be considered.

Communication skills

Education positively affects communication skills and lends itself to better report writing.

Research on Law Enforcement and Higher Education

Educated officers make better discretionary decisions, have more empathy and more tolerance.  They have a greater openness to change, are better problem solvers, receive fewer citizen complaints, and have fewer disciplinary problems.  Educated officers are less authoritarian, less conservative, less rigid and legalistic.  They have a positive attitude toward restrictions on police power, are better test-takers and have better oral interview skills.  These individuals have positive job satisfaction in early career.

Recent studies shows that having a higher education reduces the time required for movement in rank and assignments to specialized positions and was positively correlated to promotion into supervisory and administrative posts.  However, some studies are less positive, but few are negative.

Combining Training and Education

Initiatives:

• Minnesota Plan:
  • College plus state exam, then the skills portion
  • State license can be earned after one year on the job
• West VA State Police – Marshall University Articulation Agreement
• Maryland Articulation Agreement to award 15 credits for any recruit training program
• Since 1989, Ohio has permitted “college academies”
  • Some are “blended programs” with regular college curriculum
  • Some are “caboose” arrangements at the end of a college program
• Other examples exist in California and Florida

• Three Major Emerging Factors

The evolving utilization of technology to enhance law enforcement training and education

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

Problem-Oriented Training

• Technology
•   Agencies are utilizing more technology in training and general operations

• The volume of information/material is great
• Individual attention a computer can give user
• Documentation that must be maintained on training record
• The realism that will be available through virtual reality and artificial intelligence programming

• – Violent Crime Control Act

Established the Office on Community Policing which approves funding to local communities, the “Regional community policing institutes” (RCPIs) around the country, and the Police Corps.

• Problem-Oriented Training

• “problem-based,” “scenario-based” or “facilitated training”
• Cadets must learn to apply analysis, synthesis, and application levels of cognition
• Significant for greater professionalism and to enhance critical thinking skills

• Socialization into the Culture of Law Enforcement
• Socialization ensures that the individual will develop an identity, or self-concept
• Motivation and requisite knowledge to perform adequately in the social roles he/she is called upon to enact throughout his/her lifetime

The Police Culture

It is based upon the police social system, police ethos, occupational personality, the cop personality, police mystique.  It is “That intricate web of relationships among peers that shapes and perpetuates the pattern of behavior, values, isolation and secrecy that distinguish the police.”

Socialization includes adopting normative modes of police behavior and extinction of certain behaviors from previous civilian roles.  The police recruit will learn a system of attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and values of the Police Culture.

Police culture defined

It is the sum total of the values, goals, and expectations that law enforcement officers share.

• Occupational dimension —unique job-related factors that affect/condition the police to behave in certain ways
• Psychological dimension —focuses on police self-identify and personality
• Political dimension —the relationship between the police community and the policy-making authorities of the agency and society at large
• Social dimension —the officers’ social organization and subculture norms

Occupational Dimension

• Jerome Skolnick, “working personality” of police officers; variables of danger and authority, in the context of a prevailing pressure to be efficient

• Symbolic assailant—”gesture, language, and attire that the police have come to recognize as a prelude to violence”

Psychological Dimension

• Self-concept and personality development of officers
• Variables include: Conservatism, cynicism, authoritarianism, stereotyping, aggressiveness, mental strength/toughness (machoism), and sexism
• Professor William Doerner 1985 and Professor  Kirkham’s experience (from prof to cop)

Political Dimension

• Attempts to analyze policing in light of community power structures and influences upon the officer
• Four types of police-political relationships:

• Partisan
• Cultural
• Fraternalistic
• Administrative

• Partisan:  Playing politics, meaning influenced by the political party in power, the political machine
• Cultural: Police enforce local mores and expectations even when they may not be lawful

• “Outsiders” are at a disadvantage

• Fraternalistic: Power and influence emanates from within the police organization itself, usually through lobbying and/or union efforts
• Administrative: Relationship of the chief to decision makers in government, such as the mayor, city manager city councils is paramount and legitimate

Social Dimension

• Major concerns:

• The police role, role conflict, group behavior within the police subculture
• The police themselves perceive it, and as long as they do, it is real to them
• “A body of ideas and attitudes that has become associated with a group of people or an institution…often more imagined than real”

• Recommendations to reduce/lessen perceived negative police socialization:

• A commitment to a more open system organization; reduced secretiveness
• A greater understanding of the role of the officer in policing the community
• A greater commitment and recognition of individual integrity and ethical standards
• A commitment to excellence in supervision
• A greater emphasis at training academies on the police subculture, its positive and negative effects
• A greater care and emphasis on the selection and training of FTOs in order to overcome aspects of the detraining syndrome—process of transforming the highly motivated, idealistic recruit to one disillusioned and distrustful

• Social Dimension

    If the police subculture is the result of the learning process

Can be utilized to reduce the negative attribu

Answer Preview…………….

The working personality of the police consist of the patterns of behaviors developed by police officers as a result of their socialization into the police subculture that is, a group of traits unique to the law enforcement profession. The police culture encompasses the goals, values, and expectations shared by the law enforcement unit in both the occupational, political, social, and psychological dimension. Jerome Skolnick suggests that working personality explains how the……………

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