How Should We Educate the Police?

Abstract

The post World War II era has witnessed a rapid and tremendous growth of training and educational programs for police. On-the-job trainmg has become a widespread characteristic of recruit indoctrination. Police science has emerged as an educational discipline in many collegiate centers. This presentation proposes to examine what has been done in these areas, what the current trends appear to be and what the future holds. New York State is certainly representative of what has been happening among police. A long range Police Training Program was inaugurated in 1945 by the chiefs of police, the sheriffs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.l On-the-job training sessions were held throughout the entire state for police of small and large departments. Attendance was voluntary and the numbers in attendance were high. After ten years of operations the program was described as having been very successful.2 Out of the long range training program and the efforts of the chiefs of police, the sheriffs, and the F.B.I., mandated training for all new police recruits an the state became a reality. In 1959 the Municipal Police Training Council (MPTC) of New York State came into existence. Since then on-thejob training of police throughout the state has been supervised for the most part by the MPTC.8 There has been a slow and gradual eppansion of the mandated training. The length of recruit training has been increased from 80 clock hours to 240 dock hours. Intermediate in-service and supervisory training has been encouraged. The actual pattern has not been unlike that of the long range police