Police academies

SIGNIFICANCE: For almost all new police recruits, police academies provide the only formal training they receive before they begin their initial police assignments.

Before the establishment of the first state-accredited police training academies, local police departments had little assistance in the training of their recruits. Many recruits were simply handed badges and guns and then expected to learn all they needed to know in the course of their work. Now, training for new officers is both intense and nearly universal in the United States. Most police officers must undergo from 400 to 800 hours of training before they take up their duties. Instructors at police academies are mostly police officers, either retired or active. Experts in their fields, instructors often bring to bear many real-life examples from their own field experience.

The atmosphere in police academies has traditionally been paramilitary and autocratic. Since the 1980s, however, increasing numbers of academies are emphasizing educational training, while relaxing some of their paramilitary traits, such as rigid dress codes. A traditional emphasis on weapons training, handling of suspects, and physical aspects of police work has not greatly changed, but it has been supplemented by training in other areas. For example, modern police academies’ curricula may include courses on the criminal justice system in the United States and the role of police within it; constitutional law, particularly due process issues and police civil liability; ethics; cultural diversity issues; and interaction with such “special needs” groups as persons with mental disabilities, the elderly, and victims of rape and domestic violence.

In addition to their formal curricula, police academies help recruits adjust to the culture of police service. As trainees hear the firsthand experiences of veterans, they come to think of themselves as part of a brotherhood whose members must band together and constantly be on guard against unforeseen perils. Such perils may come from civilians they encounter in their work, regardless of age or sex. An element of professionalism is another by-product of academy training, as recruits learn about proper dress and appearance, acceptable behaviors in public, and the importance of having a network of respectable friends.

Negative Aspects of Academies

Along with their positive characteristics, police academies sometimes foster, directly or indirectly, questionable views and behaviors among recruits. For example, careful studies of academies have documented sexist attitudes and comments among both recruits and instructors that reflect a lack of confidence among male police officers that female officers are capable of meeting the physical demands of police work, such as handling weapons and violent suspects. In its grossest manifestations, antifemale bias takes the form of sexual harassment during academy training and later in the field.

Although police academies do not officially sanction such bias, researchers have documented “hidden” curricula that may actually encourage it. Examples include the use of exclusively male pronouns by instructors in references to law-enforcement personnel, including the recruits themselves; uses of exclusively male examples when discussing matters related to police work methods and dress; and established male “zones” of casual conversation and activities that female recruits are discouraged from entering. Instructors occasionally perpetuate assumptions that women are less able than men to fight and handle weapons and that it is dangerous for officers to have female partners in physically challenging situations.

In the guise of “protecting” women by treating them more gently, academy instructors and recruits sometimes reinforce stereotypes about feminine fragility. It has also been charged that the images of women used in academy training materials sometimes portray women as weak sex objects. This in turn sometimes leads male recruits to pay less serious attention to aspects of their training relating to domestic violence and rape intervention. There is also some evidence indicating that female academy instructors are treated with less respect than their male counterparts.

Another dark side in the development of a police culture in academy training is drinking behavior. Some research indicates that the amount of time that recruits spend drinking with their relatives and friends decreases significantly after they have spent six months in academies, while the amount of time they spend drinking with other recruits increases significantly. There are also increases in the overall frequency and quantity of drinking.

A survey of Australian police recruits on this problem found that nearly one-half of the recruits felt some pressure to drink more during their training. Moreover, the increased drinking that began during their training did not decrease during their first six months as officers in the field. These patterns develop despite the fact that more than 90 percent of the recruits reported receiving some alcohol education during their academy training.

While clearly there are areas for improvement in academy policies and procedures, one aspect of their rapid growth has been the incorporation of new forms of technology in training curricula. Grants have enabled police departments to develop advanced simulation labs, with exercises on such matters as defensive driving, handling suspects, and searching buildings. Moreover, academy coursework has made increasing use of computers and the Internet. Future technological vistas include academies “without walls”—a distance-learning approach that may in turn pave the way for internationalization of police training. In an era of increased globalization of types of crime, including terrorism, international training should assist law enforcement to develop new and more effective crime-fighting approaches.

Bibliography

Baker, Thomas. “Computer Technology in Police Academy Training.” Law and Order (August, 2002): 107–110.

Charles, Michael. Police Training: Breaking All the Rules. Springfield: Charles C Thomas, 2000.

Guthrie, Edward. “Higher Learning and Police Training.” Law and Order (December, 2000).

Miles-Johnson, Toby. "'Insufficient Guidance and a Lack of Preparation': Police Academy Training and the Reality of Police Work." Journal of Criminology, vol. 56, no. 1-2, 2023. DOI: 10.1177/26338076231167880. Accessed 8 July 2024.

Ness, J. J. “The Relevance of Basic Law Enforcement Training: Does the Curriculum Prepare Recruits for Police Work—A Survey Study.” Journal of Criminal Justice, 19, no. 2 (1991): 181–193. DOI: 10.1016/0047-2352(91)90052-W.

Prokos, Anastasia, and Irene Padavic. “‘There Oughtta be a Law Against Bitches’: Masculinity Lessons in Police Academy Training.” Gender, Work and Organization, 9, no. 4 (2002): 439–459. DOI: 10.1111/1468-0432.00168.