Transferring Police Academy Training to the Street: the Field Training Experience
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Transferring Police Academy Training to the Street: the Field Training Experience Adam Dulin 1
&
Linda Dulin 2 & Jairo Patino 3
# Society for Police and Criminal Psychology 2019
Abstract This research examines the role of police field training officers (FTOs) in the transfer of police academy training to the job. The authors issued a pilot survey instrument, the Police Learning Environment Inventory (PLEI), to assess the role of FTO behaviors in the transfer of academy training. The survey was issued to police organizations in the southwest and northeast regions of the USA. Survey responses were analyzed to determine both dimensional structure of FTO behaviors and their relationship to trainee intent to transfer academy training to the job. Results demonstrate that an array of FTO behaviors fall under a single dimension. Further, this behavioral dimension was significantly associated (p < .01) with police officer intent to transfer academy training to the field. Keywords Police training . Training transfer . Police academy . Field training
Introduction Police training is complex, comprising numerous disciplines and the application of hard and soft skills, such as the use of lethal force and de-escalation tactics (Steiner and Schwartz 2006). The complexity (and diversity) in police academy curricula is a product, in large part, of the innovations in policing seen in the last few decades. With various policing paradigms, such as broken windows, community policing and Compstat coming in and out of vogue, public and city administrations demand a vast array of skills from police officers that go well beyond simply enforcing the law (Chappell 2007).
The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Government. * Adam Dulin [email protected] Linda Dulin [email protected] Jairo Patino [email protected] 1
US Department of State, Washington, DC, USA
2
McLennan Community College, Waco, USA
3
University of New Haven, New Haven, USA
Today’s police academies often emphasize such concepts as community engagement and problem-solving in addition to more traditional subjects (Chappell 2008). Realistic training scenarios are also increasingly incorporated into academy curricula to better prepare recruits to apply complex skills in dynamic environments (Kindy 2015). However, while academies may be rooted in pragmatic preparation for a profession in policing, there remains the knowledge that working on the street, without role players, will be different. The first recognized effort at forming an FTO program was developed in the early 1970s in the San Jose, California Police Department. Still considered the gold standard by many police departments, it is estimated that nearly 75% of police departments are using the San Jose, or a modified San Jose model, to further train their new police officers (Kaminsky 2002; Caro 2011). Fischer (2018) noted that this model is still among the top two training programs used today. The ubiquity
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