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The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework, which describes how police training programs can be developed in order to improve learning retention and the transfer of skills to the work environment.

A brief review is provided that describes training strategies stemming from Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), a well‐established theory of instructional design. This is followed by concrete examples of how to incorporate these strategies into police training programs.

The research reviewed in this paper consistently demonstrates that CLT‐informed training improves learning when compared to conventional training approaches and enhances the transferability of skills.

Rarely have well‐validated theories of instructional design, such as CLT, been applied specifically to police training. Thus, this paper is valuable to instructional designers because it provides an evidence‐based approach to training development in the policing domain.

Officer wellness has become a popular area of focus in recent years. This purpose of this research is to examine the impact of a police training program, Blue Courage, on officer (n = 174) attitudes toward mental and emotional wellness.

Borrowing from the field of medicine, a data linkage approach is employed to match pre- and post-test surveys from officers who completed the training. This research uses a single-group pre-test post-test design to estimate the impact of the training, and a lagged dependent variable (LDV) ordinary least squares (OLS) model to compare the impact of the training across different types of officers.

Participants who completed the training had more positive attitudes toward mental and emotional wellness at post-test. Officers of higher rank and officers who worked in non-urban departments saw larger changes in attitudes toward wellness. Cynical officers, identified in the literature as withdrawing from training and failing to participate, saw comparable change in attitudes to less cynical officers.

Despite a relative inability of wellness training to work with police officers historically, this research suggests that certain approaches employed by Blue Courage, specifically by targeting officer cynicism, may improve officer engagement in training and improve training results.

Police‐training is an important tool in the process of facilitating change within police organizations. With the further implementation of community‐oriented policing strategies in US police agencies, training becomes a critical centerpiece. Traditionally, the majority of subjects in the police‐training environment have been taught utilizing behavioral approaches which may not be effective when teaching an evolving police curriculum which has been implemented under the axiom of community‐policing. Trainers have also relied heavily on teacher‐centered approaches when teaching both neophyte and veteran police. Authorities who train police might benefit from a more student‐centered instructional format. This manuscript examines incorporating the theory of andragogy into police‐training and identifies particular characteristics about the learning transaction in the police‐training classroom. Given the theory‐to‐practice gap that haunts police‐training authorities, andragogy holds much promise in closing this gap.

A narrative review of existing research literature was conducted to identify practices that are likely to improve the quality of de-escalation and use-of-force training for police officers.

Previous reviews of de-escalation and use-of-force training literature were examined to identify promising training practices, and more targeted literature searches of various databases were undertaken to learn more about the potential impact of each practice on a trainee's ability to learn, retain, and transfer their training. Semi-structured interviews with five subject matter experts were also conducted to assess the degree to which they believed the identified practices were relevant to de-escalation and use-of-force training, and would enhance the quality of such training.

Twenty practices emerged from the literature search. Each was deemed relevant and useful by the subject matter experts. These could be mapped on to four elements of training: (1) commitment to training (e.g. securing organizational support for training), (2) development of training (e.g. aligning training formats with learning objectives), (3) implementation of training (e.g. providing effective corrective feedback) and (4) evaluation and ongoing assessment of training (e.g. using multifaceted evaluation tools to monitor and modify training as necessary).

This review of training practices that may be relevant to de-escalation and use-of-force training is the broadest one conducted to date. The review should prompt more organized attempts to quantify the effectiveness of the training practices (e.g. through meta-analyses), and encourage more focused testing in a police training environment to determine their impact.

Police recruit training has come under scrutiny recently by both practitioners and academics who question the quality of education recruits receive prior to beginning their jobs. Past researchers have questioned whether the training adequately prepares recruits to be effective police officers. This study analyses the content of one police academy to determine if the training is sufficient. This was done by actually attending an academy training program as a recruit to determine what occurs within the academy setting. By comparing the content of this academy to the required elements identified in academic and practitioner’s literature, it was determined that this police academy is providing quality training to potential officers within time and budgetary constraints.

The widespread acceptance of community policing necessitates the need for training of recruits into its philosophy and practices. We provide a suggested curriculum for such training after describing its three basic premises. This is followed by discussions of the rationale for the curriculum, and a promising training method that can be used in its implementation. All of the above are summarized in our conclusion.

This study examines the short- and long-term changes in officers' attitudes toward four elements of procedural justice (i.e. trustworthiness, respect, neutrality and voice) after a department-wide procedural justice training program.

This study utilized the pretest–posttest, single-group design to evaluate the training with two waves of officer surveys and conducted multivariate analyses to assess the factors that could have an impact on the training effects.

The training was effective in increasing officers' support for all four elements of procedural justice immediately, and the effects remained significant over 18 months. In addition, the analyses found that there were racial differences in officers' attitudes before and after the training, and the immediate supervisors' priority played an important role in the training effects.

There has been limited systematic research on police training. This study contributes to the understanding of how procedural justice training can help improve police-community relations and reduce the attitudinal differences between White officers and minority officers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore police officer perceptions of their contacts with the mentally ill and examine outcomes of an innovative police training program designed to improve police handling of cases involving the mentally ill.

The study utilizes a sample of 126 police officer respondents from five departments in northern Indiana to understand their perceptions of important aspects of their contacts with the mentally ill.

Results show the actual dispositions for the mentally ill frequently do not match the outcomes officers desire, police training on responding to the mentally ill is not sufficient, and the training component of an innovative reform holds promise for improving officers' ability to respond to situations that involve the mentally ill.

The study is limited to one community and results may not generalize to communities with distinct mental health resources. Perceptions of police contacts with the mentally ill were not obtained from mental health service providers, advocates, and persons with a mental illness.

Contacts between the police and the mentally ill pose complex challenges for officers. Advocates contend that too many persons with a mental illness end up in jail as a result of police contacts and, thus, promote jail diversion programs. For jail diversion to succeed it is critical to understand officer perceptions of the outcomes they desire for the mentally ill and the obstacles that inhibit appropriate dispositions. Evidence about the outcomes of specialized police training can improve officers' knowledge and perceived ability to respond to the mentally ill.

This qualitative study seeks to gather rich, narrative data from police officers on the social environment of law enforcement classrooms and the classroom experiences valued most by law enforcement officers.

The study used interview data from a focus group, as well as individual interviews.

Data revealed one predominant theme, students' preference for adult education practices, and four distinct subthemes: engagement, practicality, affiliation, and efficiency. That is, officers valued courses that were interesting and engaging, were applicable to their everyday duties and responsibilities, provided opportunities for social interaction, and were presented efficiently. These subthemes or classroom preferences support the primary study finding that the students preferred adult education practices in their classrooms. The interviews revealed, however, that actual law enforcement classrooms do not always accommodate these preferences or foster the preferred classroom environment.

Such findings, which should be supplemented with additional qualitative studies as well as quantitative surveys, may be informative for classroom design and instructional planning in the law enforcement setting.

There is a dearth of research on officers' opinions about adult education in the law enforcement arena.

Police officers are frequently confronted with moral dilemmas in the course of their job. The authors assume new police officers need guidance, and need to be taught at the police academy how to deal with these situations. The purpose of this paper is to obtain insight into the impact of socialization on police recruits’ knowledge of the code of ethics and their moral reasoning skills.

The study applied a longitudinal mixed methods design, using two methods. The first method was a qualitative observation of integrity training sessions at five police academies in Belgium. The second method was a quantitative survey-measurement of recruits’ knowledge of the code of ethics and their moral reasoning skills at three points in time: the beginning of their theoretical training, before their field training and afterwards.

The analyses show differences between the police academies in their integrity training sessions. Some of these differences are reflected in different levels of knowledge of the code of ethics. As for the development pattern of recruits’ moral reasoning skills, the study found almost no differences between the academies. Perhaps this is because recruits already have relatively high scores when they start, leaving little room for improvement during the one year training program. This suggests an important role of the police selection procedure.

Previous research on socialization and police culture has focussed on recruits being socialized in a negative police culture where misconduct is learned. This is a negative interpretation of police integrity. A positive one refers to ethical decision making generally, and moral reasoning specifically. The impact of the socialization process on recruits’ moral reasoning is empirically understudied.