Post-FTO Performance Evaluations of Rookie Police Officers

Abstract

The literature surrounding the Field Training Officer (FTO) program examines how police recruits navigate post-academy on-the-job training, the reactions these novices have, and how these fledgling officers assess their training experience. Absent from this literature is any consideration of how new officers perform after graduation from the FTO program. The present study examines 347 monthly evaluations issued by immediate supervisors for 66 rookies at the Tallahassee (FL) Police Department. An analysis of scores registered in 18 areas over the first six months after FTO completion determines that race and sex of the sergeant and officer exhibit a statistical influence on grading practices. While these effects do not appear to taint the transition from probationary to full employment status, long-term ramifications are explored.     

The police education qualification framework: a professional agenda or building professionals?

ABSTRACT

Given the growing complexity in British policing, the College of Policing are implementing a Police Education Qualification Framework through a professionalization agenda. This aims to standardise entry to the police and allow serving officers to gain accreditation for their previous training and experience. Part of this process involves the development of a national police curriculum for higher education institutions to deliver to new recruits. Different definitions of what constitutes professionalism can impact on officers’ interpretations of this concept and how they subsequently engage with the proposed reforms. This paper, which is based on in depth qualitative interviews with serving officers who have undertaken an academic qualification in policing, suggests that the relationship between police education and the development of professionalism is complex. Officers need to be trusted and encouraged to use their learning in a way that develops their own personal sense of professionalism. However, this paper will argue that current perceptions amongst officers are sceptical of the wider agenda and brings into question the development of a standardised curriculum which may ultimately be viewed as further governance over officer behaviour.     

Police culture,individualism, and community policing: Evidence from two police departments

According to the conventional wisdom, the police culture consists of a set of values, attitudes, and norms that are widely shared among officers, who find in the culture a way to cope with the strains of their working environment. Some research implies that the conventional wisdom is overdrawn, and recent research has begun to question it more directly. Changes in the composition (i.e., the race, sex, and education) of police personnel, as well as philosophical and organizational changes associated with community policing, could be expected to further fragment police culture and to shift the distribution of police attitudes. Here we examine variation in outlooks that, according to conventional wisdom, are part of the police culture, using survey data collected in two police departments. We also examine the relationships between these outlooks and characteristics of officers—sex, race, education, length of service, community-policing training, and community-policing specialist assignment—that are associated with the changes in policing. We find that officers' outlooks do not conform to the pattern that we would expect on the basis of conventional wisdom. We also find that the variation in officers' occupational attitudes is not patterned to a great extent by their characteristics. We conclude with directions for future research on police attitudes.     

The Cognitive Interview: novice police officers' witness/victim interviewing practices

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate novice police officers’ witness interview practices immediately post investigative interview training (known as PEACE) with reference to the eight Cognitive Interview (CI) components taught. Forty-eight UK police officers took part as interviewers. Forty-eight undergraduates participated as mock witness; they viewed a non-violent crime video and 2 days later were individually interviewed by a police officer. Interviews were recorded and rated for officers’ application of the CI procedure.

Despite having recently completed the only training available to them no officer applied or attempted to apply the CI procedure in its entirety. However, some of the individual CI components were applied more frequently than others. This study provides a unique insight into the interviewing practices of some of the least researched, least experienced, and least trained investigative interviewers who, nonetheless, conduct witness interviews on a daily basis. The emergent picture suggests that either the CI procedure currently taught to novice police officers is too complex at so early a stage in their police career and/or that the current training may be insufficient to equip them with the skills necessary to effectively apply the procedure.     

‘Looking back,i wouldn’t join up again’: the lived experiences of police officers as victims of bias and prejudice perpetrated by fellow staff within an english police force

ABSTRACT

Women, ethnic minority and LGB police officers often experience prejudice, disadvantage and exclusion within police forces because of their perceived ‘otherness’ in a predominantly white, heterosexual, male organisation. In the context of an increasingly diverse service, the paper argues that the concept of intersectionality is important in order to understand the experiences of police officers who encounter bias and prejudice because of their multiple, intersecting identities. Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with 20 individuals based in an English police force, the paper examines their occupational experiences of bias, discrimination and exclusion perpetrated by their colleagues and supervisors. Utilising the ‘exit, voice and loyalty’ model, the paper analyses how police officers are affected by, and respond to these experiences. Taken together, these arguments lay the foundation for future work to further understand the experiences of police officers as victims of bias and prejudice due to their multiple, intersecting identities.     

Beat patrol deployment in Hong Kong

This article addresses critical policy issues raised in the SB vs. DB debate. How should such a policy debate be resolved? What are the pros and cons of both patrol deployment measures? More importantly, what immediate and effective remedial steps can be taken to secure the front line police officers’ desire for safety and security without compromising the public's legitimate expectation for order and service. This article provides the HKP community — policymakers, operational managers and front line officers — with relevant research literature and pertinent empirical data to understand the issues involved and help resolve the debate in an informed and reflective manner. In the end, the article argues that education and training are more important than patrol deployment in reducing risk of injury to police officers in the line of duty. Removal of side arms and demilitarization of the HKP is also suggested.     

The cognitive interview: A survey of its forensic effectiveness

Abstract

The cognitive interview has been shown to have the potential to enhance witness recall. Consequently, it has been adopted by all police forces in England and Wales. The present paper surveyed 96 police officers trained in the cognitive interview and 65 untrained police officers, using a questionnaire. Officers rated how frequently they used and how useful they found components of the cognitive interview. Trained officers were significantly more likely to use instructions to mentally reinstate context, use different orders, change perspectives and imagery. Amongst trained officers there was a consensus that some components of the cognitive interview were used more frequently and were believed to be more useful than others. Rated as most useful and most frequently used were establish rapport, report everything, encourage concentration, witness compatible questioning, and mental reinstatement of context. Rated as less useful and less frequently used were recall in different orders, imagery, change perspectives and transfer control. Further responses indicated that the cognitive interview was generally perceived to be a useful procedure that increases correct recall, although officers were still aware that incorrect information can also be generated. However, a major problem for many officers was that they do not have the time to conduct a full cognitive interview.     

Teaching police ethics: analysis of an increasingly complex teaching context

ABSTRACT

The importance of ethics in policing and, therefore, in police education and training, is widely acknowledged. Nonetheless, disagreement often exists about the ways in which police ethics subjects should be taught and who should teach them. In this paper, three areas of debate will be critiqued, with the aim of arriving at principled responses to the underlying issues. The first issue will be whether police ethics subjects should include any ethical theory and, if so, to what extent. Related to this, but also a distinct issue in itself, is the question of whether standalone police ethics subjects should be valued over dispersing ethics learning throughout a police curriculum (e.g. as a ‘golden thread‘ running through every subject). Finally, the question of who should teach police ethics subjects will be considered. Here, the issues largely revolve around the relevant significance of philosophical expertise, knowledge and critical analysis as compared to policing expertise. Importantly, the principled responses developed in the paper will not only be theoretically sound. They will also take account of the real-world conditions in which many police ethics subjects are delivered, particularly situations where agreements in place require police ethics subjects to be taught by both police officers and academics.     

Development and reform of police training and education in Taiwan

This article describes the development of training and educating police officers in Taiwan. The current system, which has largely survived the democratic transition between 1986 and 2000, is unique. It is a two-track system in which Taiwan Police College (TPC) is responsible for training low ranking police personnel, whereas Central Police University (CPU) is responsible for educating police management personnel. Currently, the presidents of CPU are no longer chosen from the military, but their backgrounds require experiences as police officers. The Examination Yuan opens up the new route into TPC and CPU through competitive national civil examinations. Echoing the outcry for reform within Taiwan and abroad, we advocate to liberate new cadets from the closed system so that they can learn together with other non-police students and to add more social science materials into the police education curriculum.     

Switching on,switching off: reflections of a practitioner researcher examining the operational behaviour of police officers

ABSTRACT

Evidence-based policing is rapidly becoming adopted by policing agencies among policing jurisdictions. Many academic programmes have been established in higher education to train police managers in applied criminology. However, there is a lack of literature for police officer practitioner researchers (POPR) who might undertake qualitative research, especially research projects that examine police behaviour. This paper reflects on the changing role of the practitioner-researcher and suggests that police officers undertaking qualitative research need to learn to ‘switch off their police role’ and ‘switch on their researcher role’. The author’s insights are drawn from his own experience of qualitative fieldwork working with police officers from New Zealand Police and South Australian Police.     

Learning to de-escalate: evaluating the behavioural impact of Verbal Judo training on police constables

ABSTRACT

This article presents findings from an assessment of the immediate behavioural impact of the ‘Verbal Judo’ de-escalation training program, delivered to officers in a Canadian police service in 2017, and represents the first evaluation of Verbal Judo. The evaluation utilized systematic observations of officers in videotaped simulations, comparing a baseline group of officers to officers trained in Verbal Judo. The study found that five of 15 coded behaviours were impacted at a statistically significant level in the hypothesized direction, and these tended to be simpler behaviours encouraged by the training (such as identifying oneself or providing a reason for contact), while more complex behaviours (such as empathizing with the subject) were not impacted. The evaluation also found that likelihood of utilizing de-escalation skills decreased as an officer’s years of experience increased. The paper closes by outlining the implications of these findings for de-escalation training, and elaborates the main limitations of the study.     

General strain theory,exposure to violence,and suicide ideation among police officers: A gendered approach

PurposeA wide body of research has demonstrated that police officers are profoundly affected by their exposure to violence and the traumatic events viewed commonly as part of their job duties. Faced with stress, officers learn to adapt by incorporating coping techniques.MethodsThe current study utilizes Agnew's general strain theory to explain occurrences of the most dangerous maladaptive coping technique: suicide ideation. Male and female police officers from three large cities in Texas were surveyed (n = 1,410).ResultsThe present study utilizes logistic regression techniques, finding that strain has a positive and direct effect on male officers suicide ideation risk, but not for female police. Moreover, depression has a mediating effect on strain and suicide ideation for both genders.ConclusionsSome critical differences in suicide ideation outcomes between male and female police officers are reported. Policy implications concerning retention and recruiting are also discussed.     

Situational and officer-based determinants of police coercion

Using data collected as part of an observational study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this article examines police use of force to gain a better understanding of why the police resort to force. Like analyses from previous observational studies, the present inquiry borrows from both sociological and psychological theoretical orientations to explore various determinants of force. Unlike previous examinations, the universe of behaviors considered is substantially expanded to include numerous types or levels of force, ranging from verbal commands and threats to the use of impact methods. An ordered probit analysis of 3,116 police-suspect encounters shows that officers often respond to legal stimuli (e.g., suspects' resistance, safety concerns) when applying force. Countering previous findings, it found that officers were not more coercive toward disrespectful suspects. However, the analysis revealed that officers were also influenced by extra-legal factors. Male, nonwhite, poor, and younger suspects were all treated more forcefully, irrespective of their behavior. In addition, encounters involving inexperienced and less-educated officers resulted in increased levels of police force. The implications of these findings, for both policy and future research, are considered.     

Patrol officers and problem solving: An application of expectancy theory

Problem solving has been recognized as a key aspect of community policing. We use expectancy motivation theory to explain variation in police officers' problem-solving behavior. Specifically, we expect that the amount of problem solving performed by officers will be explained by (1) the opportunity to do so, (2) the ability to do so, (3) the likelihood that officers will be recognized by their performance in this area, and (4) police officers' calculation of the costs and rewards of such behavior. Using data collected from ridealongs with police officers, we find that officers who engage in more problem-solving are motivated by potential recognition of such behavior. We also find that expectancy motivation theory provides a more likely explanation for the behavior of community police officers than that of traditional “beat” officers.     

The effect of uniform and prior knowledge on children's event reports and disclosure of secrets

The present paper examined the effect of police uniform on the accuracy of 6- to 8-year-old children's reports about an event and it explored the roles that interviewer prior knowledge and social status play in mediating any effects of uniform. Two studies were conducted; in the first study, interviewers wore uniforms that were independent of a forensic context whereas in the second study, the interviews were conducted by police officers who wore either uniform or civilian clothes. Children reported more information (accurate, as well as inaccurate) to a police interviewer in civilian clothes compared to uniform. This finding was found only in the police uniform context. Interviewer's prior knowledge had no impact on the children's reports in either context. The likely impact of police uniform is discussed. Authors' Note: Thanks to many teachers, principals and children who volunteered to partake in this project and to Sarah Agnew, Greg Angenent, Catherine Borg, Sue Connor, Agnes Kalinowski, Joanna Kellis and Vivian Mikhail who assisted in the data collection, coding and analysis. Thanks also to the members of the Victorian Police (Community Policing Squad) who conducted interviews for this project, and to Sergeant Lisa McMeeken, and Senior Constable Jennifer Evans of the VATE project who coordinated the police interviews.     

Public Attitudes toward Auxiliary Police in China: a Preliminary Investigation

Despite their colossal size and importance in policing, China’s auxiliary police forces have garnered very little research attention. This study attempts to fill our knowledge gap by first describing key features that distinguish the auxiliary police from the regular police in China and their counterparts in Western societies, followed by an empirical investigation of public attitudes toward the auxiliary police in China. Based on survey data collected from a coastal city in China, we reported the general patterns of people’s evaluations of auxiliary officers and assessed whether variables representing institutional trust, media exposure, and neighborhood context are predictive of Chinese attitudes toward the auxiliary police. We found that Chinese citizens rated their local auxiliary officers very positively. Trust in the government and police and known negative reports about the auxiliary police are linked to Chinese’ global satisfaction with the auxiliary police. Trust in the police, exposure to and belief in negative media reports about the auxiliary police, and perception of neighborhood collective efficacy are associated with people’s specific attitudes toward auxiliary officers. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

     

A Pilot Study to Develop the Police Transformational Leadership Scale (PTLS) and Examine Its Associations with Psychosocial Well-Being of Officers

In these times of increased tensions between police officers and their communities, the need for effective police leadership is more important than ever. Past research suggests that a transformational style of leadership is preferred by most officers, with supervisors who are good communicators, trustworthy, effective at training officers for changing times, and able to create a shared cooperative vision. The present study developed a new Transformational Police Leadership Scale (TPLS) that police departments might eventually use to assess supervisor leadership characteristics. Participants included 152 US police officers who completed anonymous surveys to report demographics, to rate leadership behaviors of immediate supervisors, and to report their psychosocial well-being (self-esteem, perceived police social support, romantic partner conflict). Exploratory factor analysis produced a 20-item TPLS with three dimensions showing acceptable internal reliability and test-retest reliability: Clear Communication, Training and Cooperation, and Fairness and Honesty. The three TPLS dimensions were not associated with demographics (age, gender, marital status, college education, patrol officer rank, years of service), suggesting their relevance to a variety of officers. The TPLS dimensions significantly explained variance in psychosocial well-being of police officers including better self-esteem (R ² = .11), more perceived police social support (R ² = .30), and less romantic partner conflict (R ² = .12). Future research could expand evaluation of TPLS psychometric characteristics such as confirmatory factor analysis with larger and more diverse sample, inter-rater reliability, and convergent validity with other non-police measures of transformative leadership.     

Teaching police ethics: An experiential model

Attempts have been made in recent years to decrease police misconduct and improve police performance in areas of ethical decision-making. One attempt has been to provide ethics instruction to police officers at training academies and in-service training sessions. Experiential case studies have been used to help students apply theoretical concepts to practical situations. An evaluation of the experiential teaching model for police ethics was made in a quasiexperimental research design with two groups of police officers. The results supported the experiential approach for teaching police ethics. Police officers were found to better differentiate between ethical and unethical conduct in both an idealistic and realistic manner.     

Designing a graduate entry route for police recruits: lessons from a rapid evidence assessment of other professions

ABSTRACT

Policing in the UK is currently undergoing changes to the training and attained qualifications of entry level police officers. The College of Policing is in the process of developing three entry routes into the profession, one of which is a graduate conversion course for those new recruits who hold, at a minimum, a Bachelor’s degree. The objective of this research was to gather evidence on existing conversion courses to inform the development of this route. A rapid evidence assessment was undertaken to a narrative synthesis of the literature on graduate conversion courses in other professions. Fifty-one studies were identified and coded. Four main themes emerged from the available evidence as being central. These themes – learning styles, translating theory into practice, teaching methods and assessment were cross cut by pedagogical sub-themes of collaborative learning, and reflective practice. Policy and practice implications for a policing conversion course are drawn out to guide development and delivery of police training and education in the 21^st century.     

Does the police code of silence vary with police assignment? An empirical exploration of the relation between the code and assignment

ABSTRACT

This paper contains an in-depth exploration of the relation between police code of silence and police assignment. A police integrity survey was used to measure the contours of the code among Croatian patrol officers, detectives, and community-policing officers. Samples of police officers evaluated fourteen hypothetical scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct. Whereas the type of assignment was a weak predictor of the respondents’ adherence to the code of silence, the respondents’ assessments of misconduct seriousness and expected discipline, as well as perceptions whether other officers would report misconduct, were strong predictors of the respondents’ own expressed adherence to the code.