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The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had on US police academies’ production of police recruits.

The study used a national online survey of police academy directors in the USA, followed by purposive, semi-structured interviews of select academy directors. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data is combined in a mixed methods approach.

The findings suggest that academies experienced a range of impacts related to COVID-19. These impacts lead to more questions concerning how academies and state-level governing boards responded not only to pandemic-related challenges, but also to their willingness to accept more online and alternative curriculum delivery strategies.

Police academies are a required step in the production of new police recruits in the USA, but researchers have paid little attention to how academies operate. While exploratory, this study provides some insights into how this aspect of policing weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers suggestions for future research, as well as policy implications.

This study aims to address two interrelated research questions. First, to compare the academy performance of police recruits trained under a traditional academy curriculum with the performance of those trained under a new academy curriculum based on community policing. Second, to investigate whether a different “type” of recruit performs better in the community policing curriculum compared with the traditional curriculum.

Regression analysis is used to estimate the effects of independent variables on three dependent variables that indicate academy success: average academy scores, failure experiences, and post‐academy employment.

Results suggest that more highly educated recruits and female recruits fared better in the community policing curriculum but that, overall, recruits in the community policing curriculum performed similarly to their traditional counterparts.

The findings suggest that newer police training models may be rewarding skills consistent with the community policing philosophy, such as education. This is a study of one police training center that has instituted a new training curriculum, so results cannot be generalized to other training centers. The community policing curriculum was in the early stages of implementation when data were collected and was therefore not yet standardized. Finally, the analysis is limited to predicting the success of police recruits in the academy, rather than predicting their job performance.

Few studies have examined academy training in community policing. This study is a first step to broadening understanding of the impact of academy training in community policing on police recruits.

The purpose of the current study is to expand the existing knowledge base that seeks to determine which pre‐employment factors can predict which police candidates will successfully complete the training academy.

The data for this study were collected from application and personnel records of 503 police recruits accepted into the Baltimore County police academy. The dependent variable, success in the academy, was measured as a dichotomous variable (1=graduated; 0=not graduated). The independent variables were routine employment factors.

A key finding was that general work experience was better at predicting successful completion of the training academy than prior police experience and prior military experience.

In this particular study it was determined that police recruits who had a prior arrest record or prior illegal drug use and also had prior work experience could successfully complete the police training academy. However, these results are limited to those police organizations that give individuals who had a negative encounter with law enforcement a second chance.

Few studies have examined the relationship between background characteristics and successful completion of the police training academy. This study broadens the understanding of the need for police applicants to have a solid record of general work experience.

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 purpose of this paper is to determine if a police academy using adult learning techniques instills higher levels of perceived competence in recruits than an academy using traditional pedagogical methods.

The study took advantage of a timeframe when two academy models using different approaches to learning were employed in Massachusetts. Recruits (N = 97) were surveyed before entering the academy and just prior to graduation to assess their levels of perceived competence across three domains of training topics (i.e. “Policing in Massachusetts,” “Investigations” and “Patrol Procedures”).

Results were mixed in terms of the academy model's effects on recruit competence levels. In terms of investigations, participants experienced a greater level of growth in an adult-learning setting. Regarding general topics grouped into the “Policing in Massachusetts” category, such as constitutional law, recruits taught with traditional pedagogy experienced more growth. For patrol procedures, taught using similar hands-on methods, results showed comparable levels of growth for all recruits over time. Overall, recruits in both the traditional and adult-learning-based academy experienced similar growth trajectories in self-perceived levels of competence. Findings suggest that a mixed approach to training may provide optimal results for police recruits.

Prior research on academy curricula has been limited to cross-sectional analyses. Further, little effort has been made to analyze the impacts of academy training from an andrological and/or “adult learning” theoretical lens. This study evaluated the effects of a new, overhauled recruit academy curriculum over time to expand the literature in both of these areas.

The purpose of this study is to examine the nature of the code of silence among police recruits in an effort to provide recommendations to reduce its occurrence and harm to society.

Data analyses are performed on a multi-agency sample of 645 police recruits in the United States. Specifically, analyses are conducted on pre- and post-academy panel data to assess changes in recruits' perceptions of code adherence over time as they begin their immersion into the police culture.

Results demonstrate that police recruits' willingness to report a fellow officer is reduced by the end of the academy and that several individual and organizational factors impact recruits' code adherence attitudes over time.

This study contributes to the policing literature by exploring changes in recruits' code adherence attitudes over time.

Police recruits need to be prepared the moment they graduate from the police academy for any type of situation. It is during the initial recruit training phase at the police academy where police recruits need to learn about terrorism and how to respond to a terrorism incident. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the Emergency Response Week portion of the Chicago Police Academy's recruit curriculum was adequate and provided Chicago Police Department recruits with adequate knowledge of terrorism awareness and the skills necessary to respond to a terrorism incident.

Descriptive research was used with a non‐experimental fixed design, along with quantitative survey research.

The results indicated that the Chicago Police Department recruit curriculum in Emergency Response Week was perceived as above adequate by Chicago Police Department recruits. Additionally, the Chicago Police Department recruits perceived their knowledge concerning terrorism awareness and their skill levels concerning responding to a terrorism incident as above adequate following completion of Emergency Response Week.

Previous researchers mostly examined the breadth of police recruit curricula, which has left a need for an in‐depth knowledge base. This research paper probed deeply into the satisfaction of the Emergency Response Week curriculum at the Chicago Police Department Recruit Academy and narrowed the focus from previous studies.

The cost of selecting and training new police officers is high. However, previous research has provided limited guidance on how to select the best applicants. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of the possibilities to select suitable applicants by using combinations of four common categories of selection methods, namely cognitive tests, personality inventories, physical tests, and rater-based methods (i.e. interviews).

Using a sample of Swedish police recruits (n=750) the authors performed hierarchical multiple regression analyses, predicting four criteria – performance, satisfaction, retention, and health – at three consecutive time points (after two years of academy training, after six months of field training, and after the first work year).

No group of selection methods consistently predicted all four criteria at the three time points. In most analyses more than one class of selection methods were statistically significant, but the findings did not support the use of rater-based methods.

Instead of the common praxis of using interviews, the findings suggest an alternative praxis. This involves using the remaining information from cognitive tests, personality inventories, and general fitness tests that had been used in earlier hurdles to screen out unsuitable applicants.

The study extends previous research by including several follow-ups, showing the value of combining different selection methods, and using alternative criteria of successful police recruitment (i.e. satisfaction, retention, and health).

Do female police recruits drop out of police education and/or leave the profession more often than men, and has this changed over time? Can gender differences be explained by the background characteristics and family obligations of the recruits?

This paper employs administrative registry data covering all individuals admitted to the police academy (1995–2010, N = 6570) and all academy recruits employed in the Norwegian police (1992–2014, N = 7301). The paper analyses the data using discrete-time logistic regression and coarsened exact matching.

The levels of dropout and attrition are generally low. However, female recruits have a somewhat greater tendency both to drop out of education and to leave the force. The gender differences are quite stable, although the percentage of female recruits has risen sharply. Family obligations do not seem to explain female attrition from the police force.

Because women tend to leave the police more often than men, further research is suggested in investigating female police recruits’ experiences. However, the relatively low level of dropout and limited gender differences also provide a reason to question whether stories of the police as a male-dominated profession not adapted to women are valid across time and in different settings.

This study provides exhaustive and detailed longitudinal data not previously available in studies of police careers. This study also tracks attrition in a period that has involved both increased numerical representation of women and changes in police culture, while accounting for other observable differences between male and female police officers. Contrary to common explanations, there is limited importance of family obligations and altered gender composition.

To describe the class content of a citizen police academy (CPA) and the preference for communicative problem solving over physical force.

This ethnographic case study followed 20 participants through a CPA run by a suburban police department. Participants were interviewed before the academy began. All classes were observed and transcribed, and group discussions were held after the academy's conclusion. Instructors were also interviewed.

The more “action‐packed” parts of policing attract participants to CPAs, which then can emphasize the less adventuresome aspects. While officers must be ready to respond to violence used against them, communication plays a greater role in investigating crime and solving day‐to‐day problems. Citizens are encouraged to work with police by reporting problems and becoming involved with community policing efforts. CPAs counter the violent portrayal of police work in the mass media.

Generalizability based upon a case study. How valid for others are the results from one CPA?

CPA instructors should be encouraged to facilitate more discussions between participants. Entertainment is an important factor in CPA classes but citizens will also value more serious conversation.

This paper would be most valuable for instructors of CPAs and researchers interested in them. Prior studies of CPAs have largely been based on survey research. According to Katz: “no social research is complete without an ethnographic treatment of its subject‐matter.” While CPAs tend to follow a similar curriculum, this paper shows what values should be infused to cultivate better relations with citizens.