Training Academy Research Articles

FITNESS PERCENTILE RANK DATA FOR FEMALE LAW ENFORCEMENT RECRUITS IN THE USA

Female law enforcement personnel make up a small percentage of the population compared to males. However, female officers and recruits tend to be under-analyzed relative to their male counterparts. Female recruits also tend to be less physically fit when compared to their male peers, but the distinction of physical fitness levels within females as a specific population group has yet to be documented. This study aimed to create fitness percentile ranks for female recruits from several law enforcement agencies. Retrospective analysis on 200 females from 14 law enforcement recruit classes from agencies in three American states was conducted. Physical fitness tests were conducted prior to academy. The tests included: maximal push-ups and sit-ups in 60 s, and the 20-m multistage fitness test (assessed by number of completed shuttles and estimated maximal aerobic capacity). For all tests, if a female was below the 40 th percentile specific to recruits, they were near the 50 th percentile for general population norms. Female recruits should aim to be in the 50 th percentile or higher of the presented percentile rankings to better their preparedness for academy. Training staff could also use the percentile rank data to profile their female recruits and highlight their strengths in muscular endurance and aerobic fitness, and areas for needed improvement. By doing so, and by also developing strength, power, and endurance, females will be more prepared to complete academy training, perform job-specific tasks, and raise the expectations and overall fitness for females as a sex group in the law enforcement community.

Peeling the paradigm: Exploring the professionalization of policing in Canada

Maintaining public trust, legitimacy, and credibility in a constantly evolving society has proven challenging for police in the 21st century. Rising public concerns regarding police accountability are driving the need to advance the paradigm of policing by reassessing the organizational structure of law enforcement in Canada. Supported by research identifying primary directives for maintaining public trust, this proposal argues that the time has come for policing to evolve from an occupation into a formal profession. Just as any other occupation that has advanced into a profession, provincial regulatory colleges of policing should be formed with the key objective of protecting the public from malpractice and malfeasance. A provincial college of policing would allow for (a) sustained and inclusive recruitment strategies, (b) foundational knowledge of the scholarship of policing, (c) evidence-based academy training, (d) mandatory ongoing (in-service) police education, and (e) expert, objective, community-focused, independent oversight. This proposal uses characteristics of the College of Policing in England and Wales as a guiding framework for the support and preparation of professionalizing policing in Canada.

Evaluation of a simulation training program for new child protection investigators: A survey of investigators in the field

A new movement has developed to provide simulation training to child protection professionals to prepare them to work with families around child safety and well-being. This article reports on a survey of child protection investigators in Illinois that was conducted as part of a program evaluation of a prominent simulation training program, the Child Protection Training Academy. Simulation-trained investigators continued to value their simulation training months to years later, rated their certification training more highly than investigators without simulation training, and reported less difficulty developing the skills of evidence-based documentation and testifying in court.

Fitness Fights Fires: Exploring the Relationship between Physical Fitness and Firefighter Ability.

Background: Regular exercise in firefighters may be effective in preventing or attenuating ill health (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, and obesity), as well as improving their firefighting ability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical fitness and firefighting ability. Methods: Male firefighter recruits’ (n = 89; age = 27.1 ± 4.2 yrs) physical fitness and firefighting ability were assessed at Week 1 and Week 7 during a basic firefighting training academy. Physical fitness was assessed via 1.5 mile run time, sit-up and push-up repetitions, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) bench press test, vertical jump height, and sit-and-reach flexibility, while firefighting ability was assessed via completion time on a firefighting skills test. Results: Fitness predicted significant variance in firefighting ability at Week 1 (R2 = 0.46; p < 0.01) and Week 7 (R2 = 0.46; p < 0.01), after accounting for age and body mass index. Cardiovascular endurance accounted for 22.4% (FΔ (1, 85) = 25.75) and 39.3% (FΔ (1, 85) = 55.53) while muscular endurance accounted for an additional 19.0% (FΔ (3, 82) = 10.34) and 6.3% (FΔ (3, 82) = 3.2) unique variance in firefighting ability at Week 1 and Week 7, respectively. Conclusions: Given the strong association between fitness and firefighting performance, municipal departments may want to focus on increasing fitness levels among firefighters.

Development of history of education as a school and study course in Slovenia through the reception of J. F. Herbart

ABSTRACT This article reconstructs the phases of development of the history of education as a school subject and subject within the framework of the education of teachers at teacher training schools from 1869 onwards, and the presence of these contents at teacher training academies after 1960 and faculties of education after 1986. At the same time, it examines the position and the presence of this subject in the course of educational studies at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana during the interwar period and during the period following the Second World War until Slovenia’s gaining of independence. Also presented is the situation in this field in three study programmes of educational science in Slovenia. On this subject, the article will look at changes in content focus. Based on the analysis of records on J. F. Herbart in textbooks on the history of education and educational articles, an attempt is made to recognise the development of interpretational patterns and to focus on his educational ideas relating to current trends. Although J. F. Herbart may be regarded as one of the key educational classics, authors in Slovenia have seldom read Herbart in the original. For more than a century, the records relating to him have been repeating controversial stereotypes, and only in the recent period has there been a positive shift in this field.

Changes in Australian law enforcement recruit aerobic fitness and the development of normative data after academy training

Background: Measures of aerobic fitness are an important component of law enforcement academy training to ensure a recruit’s physical capacity is sufficient to complete occupational demands. Law enforcement officers can be required to conduct rapid foot pursuits and restrain suspects, all while carrying additional loads (e.g., body armour and firearms). Thus, these officers require a sufficient level of fitness. Due to the importance of physical fitness in carrying out occupational tasks and reducing injury risk, this study aimed to quantify changes in aerobic fitness during law enforcement academy training and to establish normative aerobic fitness values which can evaluate recruit fitness across jurisdictions.

Driving and Flying Simulators: A Review on Relevant Considerations and Trends

Flying and driving simulation has encouraged an enormous and growing community in a wide variety of areas such as research centers, driver or pilot training academies, vehicle-testing facilities, amusement parks, and even at home by household enthusiasts, providing carefully integrated visual and perceptual illusions of driving or flying real vehicles. The global research on this subject is explored during the period 2000 to 2019 from an interdisciplinary perspective based on a systematic methodology, providing both new and experienced researchers with broad guidance toward key aspects for further investigations and developments. Emphasis is given to the analysis of the findings and in particular to their applicability, to an extent not attempted earlier, by considering both human and machine aspects.

The impact of COVID-19 on police training academies

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the impacts coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had on US police academies’ production of police recruits.Design/methodology/approachThe 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.FindingsThe 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.Originality/valuePolice 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.

Socialization Across the Three Stages of the Correctional Service of Canada’s Correctional Officer Training Program: An Ethnographic Study

The current ethnographic study reflects my participation in elements of the three stages of the correctional officer training program (CTP) offered by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Unpacking my experience, I use Van Maanen and Schein (1977) theory of organizational socialization to analyze the formal and informal socialization processes inherent to the structure of the training academy. Thematic reflection on informal socialization processes reveal that the pressures tied to module content and testing reinforce values welcomed by CSC, such as organizational commitment, before the recruit’s arrival at the academy. Moreover, at the academy, where the emphasis remains on organizational commitment, a seemingly contradictory message emerges, where the academy atmosphere and lessons encourage collective solidary and comradery among recruits, while also reminding recruits to remain self-focused, enforcing that recruits are accountable for their actions or role in the acts of others. In response, I show how recruits appear to be socialized for, what I refer to as, caveated comradery; where recruits learn the value of collective solidarity and comradery but only as far as all recruits act with integrity and abide to the behavioral expectations of the organization.

Socialization Across the Three Stages of the Correctional Service of Canada’s Correctional Officer Training Program: An Ethnographic Study

The current ethnographic study reflects my participation in elements of the three stages of the correctional officer training program (CTP) offered by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Unpacking my experience, I use Van Maanen and Schein (1977) theory of organizational socialization to analyze the formal and informal socialization processes inherent to the structure of the training academy. Thematic reflection on informal socialization processes reveal that the pressures tied to module content and testing reinforce values welcomed by CSC, such as organizational commitment, before the recruit’s arrival at the academy. Moreover, at the academy, where the emphasis remains on organizational commitment, a seemingly contradictory message emerges, where the academy atmosphere and lessons encourage collective solidary and comradery among recruits, while also reminding recruits to remain self-focused, enforcing that recruits are accountable for their actions or role in the acts of others. In response, I show how recruits appear to be socialized for, what I refer to as, caveated comradery; where recruits learn the value of collective solidarity and comradery but only as far as all recruits act with integrity and abide to the behavioral expectations of the organization.

California's COVID-19 Virtual Training Academy: Rapid Scale-Up of a Statewide Contact Tracing and Case Investigation Workforce Training Program.

Case investigation (CI) and contact tracing (CT) are key to containing the COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread community transmission necessitates a large, diverse workforce with specialized knowledge and skills. The University of California, San Francisco and Los Angeles partnered with the California Department of Public Health to rapidly mobilize and train a CI/CT workforce. In April through August 2020, a team of public health practitioners and health educators constructed a training program to enable learners from diverse backgrounds to quickly acquire the competencies necessary to function effectively as CIs and CTs. Between April 27 and May 5, the team undertook a curriculum design sprint by performing a needs assessment, determining relevant goals and objectives, and developing content. The initial four-day curriculum consisted of 13 hours of synchronous live web meetings and 7 hours of asynchronous, self-directed study. Educational content emphasized the principles of COVID-19 exposure, infectious period, isolation and quarantine guidelines and the importance of prevention and control interventions. A priority was equipping learners with skills in rapport building and health coaching through facilitated web-based small group skill development sessions. The training was piloted among 31 learners and subsequently expanded to an average weekly audience of 520 persons statewide starting May 7, reaching 7,499 unique enrollees by August 31. Capacity to scale and sustain the training program was afforded by the UCLA Extension Canvas learning management system. Repeated iteration of content and format was undertaken based on feedback from learners, facilitators, and public health and community-based partners. It is feasible to rapidly train and deploy a large workforce to perform CI and CT. Interactive skills-based training with opportunity for practice and feedback are essential to develop independent, high-performing CIs and CTs. Rigorous evaluation will continue to monitor quality measures to improve the training experience and outcomes.

Preparing mental health professionals to work with justice involved clients: interprofessional collaborative practice paves the way

ABSTRACT Clinical social workers in county mental health systems often treat clients who are also involved with the criminal justice system. Effective treatment requires that social workers not only stabilize mental health problems but also address criminal behavior using evidence-based practices, a task they may be unprepared for. This paper presents a six-day training academy and curriculum for practitioners based on the Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (ICP) framework and competencies. Training was conducted by representatives of mental health and criminal justice fields. Evaluation ratings post training revealed significant improvements in all four ICP competency areas including interprofessional communication and treatment skills.

Increases In Lean Body Mass Do Not Negatively Affect Broad Jump Performance In Soccer Players

INTRODUCTION: There is an unfounded dogma that suggests that an increase in body mass would interfere with broad jump performance. The hypothesis is that a gain in body mass obtain from resistance training (RT) will not be deleterious to performance. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of a RT program and the resulting gain in lean mass on broad jump testing results in soccer players. METHODS: Fifteen male soccer players from a U-19 team of the Elite Ivory Coast Training Academy (age:15.8 ± 1.42) took part in a RT program intervention twice a week, over the course of 12 weeks, while maintaining their regular soccer training program. The RT program included three different full-body workouts, with percentage of Maximum Repetition (RM) ranging from 75% to 87% of 1 RM. Participant bodyweight (BW) was recorded and bodyfat percentage (BF%) was measured using an Harpenden caliper and the Durin & Ramahan method. significant differences in improvement were calculated with a paired sample T-test. All statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 27. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Results show a significant (p˂0.05) improvement for the BJ from a mean baseline group performance of 2.26 ± 0.15 m to 2.44 ± 0.12 m after 12 weeks of RT even though mean BW significantly increased from 63.29 ± 5.65 kg to 64.29 ± 5.80 kg as a result of a significant improvement in mean lean body mass (LBM) from 57.13 ± 5.04 kg to 59.06 ± 4.95 & while BF% mean values significantly went down from 9.72 ± 1.49 % to 8.03 ± 1.22 %. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study show a significant improvement on the BJ and therefore on lower limb power. 12 weeks of RT and the increase in LBM that result from it did not negatively affect BJ performance, and this improvement was observed despite a significant increase in total body mass. However, further research should include a control group, to confirm without a doubt that an RT protocol can, in fact, improve BJ performance.

Increase In Body Mass Do Not Negatively Affect Aerobic Capacity In Elite Male Soccer Players

Previous research has shown that an increase in body mass is unfoundedly linked to a decrease of aerobic capacity. The focal point of this decrease is a reduction in the maximal rate of oxygen utilization (VO2 max). PURPOSE: To measure the effect of a Resistance Training (RT) program and its expected gain in lean mass on aerobic capacity in soccer players. The hypothesis being that a gain in body mass obtained from resistance training (RT) will not be detrimental to aerobic capacity. METHODS: Eleven male soccer players from a U-19 team of the Elite Ivory Coast Training Academy (age:15.73 ± 1.21 years) took part in a 12-week, three times per week, RT program, while maintaining their regular soccer training program. The RT program included three different full-body workouts, with percentage of maximum repetition (RM) ranging from 75% to 87% of 1 RM. Participants bodyweight (BW) was recorded and bodyfat percentage (BF%) was measured using an Harpenden caliper and the Durin & Ramahan 4-site skinfold method. Participant VO2 max was extrapolated from the Carzola VAMÉVAL test. Differences between pre and post measures were calculated with a paired samples T-test. All statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 27. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 RESULTS: Results show a significant (p < 0.05) improvement of VO2max with base values starting at 58.84 ± 1.77 mL/kg/min and increasing to 60.07 ± 2.18 mL/kg/min after 12 weeks of RT even though mean BW significantly increased from 61.74 ± 4.66 kg to 62.55 ± 4.83 kg. Furthermore, mean lean body mass (LBM) increased significantly from 55.73 ± 4.21 kg to 57.62 ± 4.29 kg while BF% significantly decreased from 9.54 ± 1.13% to 7.66 ± 0.58 %. CONCLUSION: Results show that a RT protocol does not negatively impact aerobic capacity but rather potentially increases it. 12 weeks of RT and the increase in BW and LBM that resulted from it did not negatively affect aerobic capacity. However, further research should include a control group, to confirm without a doubt that an RT protocol can, in fact, improve VO2 max.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Academy Socialization on Police Integrity

The objective of this study was to examine changes in American recruits’ perceptions of the seriousness of behaviors related to police integrity from the beginning to the end of their academy training. Using a sample of 655 recruits from multiple academies in the United States, multilevel growth models were used. The results showed that the recruits rated scales related to misconduct, code of silence, and a noble cause less seriously at the end than at the beginning of their training. The results also showed that ethics training mitigated the effects of socialization, while organizational injustice intensified the effects of socialization. Female recruits rated the behaviors more seriously at the beginning and the end of training compared to male recruits. The results confirm the role of the academy in socializing officers into the negative aspects of the traditional police culture and highlight important avenues for police reform.

A special relationship: a broad survey of Japanese performance training methodologies’ influence on Brisbane actor training since the 1990s

For a small enclave of self-consciously avant-garde theatre-makers in Brisbane in the 1990s, Japanese theatre was a lodestar – an answer to what we saw as the moribund strictures of Australian naturalism. While in other theatre city-state-cultures this manifested in postdramatic director’s theatre or iconoclastic experimentation, the desire to escape the past in Brisbane turned inward, to the bodies of performers. Japanese actor training emphasised embodiment, presence, and intensive and passionate training, in particular through the influential writing of Tadashi Suzuki in The Way of Acting (1986). Suzuki’s training method has left its traces on almost all of the actor training academies in the city. It was at this time too that Hijikata’s dance of darkness, butoh, started to take root. In Brisbane, this apocalyptic, image-based form of physical expression became entangled with Suzuki’s method in the performative aesthetic life of the underground, and later, the main stages. The culture of physical training has had a profound impact on the making processes and the distinctive repertory of the city of Brisbane. This article explores this unique training and performance history from different perspectives in its diverse ecology as a way of understanding the hold and staying power of these traditions.

‘Guys, get your guns out!’ – An autobiographical account of a US community corrections training academy

This article addresses community corrections (CC) training from the perspective of a former practitioner. Though CC training has received modest consideration, academies’ roles in reinforcing occupational cultures are nearly absent from the literature. This article addresses this gap with an autobiographical account of an academy experience and shows that not only did the profession appear to attract candidates with public safety orientations, but also that the academy reinforced those orientations through a disproportionate focus on use of force and officer safety. The article considers challenges policymakers and managers face when attempting to implement reform in public safety cultures.

Message from the editor in chief

Greetings, dear readers.&#x0D; We are thrilled to share with you, Volume 8 No. 1 (2020), publication of our highly acclaimed International Journal of Innovative Research in Education (IJIRE). This publication aims to present current approaches used in the learning and teaching process in education. The reviewers carefully selected high quality articles based on this aim.&#x0D; After a careful review process, three papers were selected, representing topics from Morocco, North Cyprus and India. The selected topics include the following: The diagnosis methods for the obstacles and difficulties in computer sciences of nursing students; Investigation of the cognitive, psychomotor, and social emotional progress in primary schools by directors’ ideas; Semi supervised machine learning approach for DDOS detection.&#x0D; We are delighted by the content of this issue and as such, we would like to thank all the contributors who made this publication a success. Dear reader, enjoy reading!!&#x0D; Best Regards&#x0D; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zehra Ozcinar Teacher Training Academy,&#x0D; Editor-in-chief

Consistent vehicle routing with pickup decisions - Insights from sport academy training transfers

In professional team sports, clubs compete in a highly contested market for young talents. Especially in rural areas training transfer services are common to recruit promising underage players. If the demand for training transfers exceeds the available pickup capacities, a prioritization of pickups is necessary. Additionally, the transport of underage children has the special premises of consistent driver-player assignments. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to present an algorithmic approach to passenger transportation problems with priorities under limited capacity and consistency requirements. We propose an iterative template-based procedure to handle the trade-off between priority maximizing pickups and assignment consistency. So far, the literature has focused on the consistent service of a predefined subset of customers. With our work we focus on the consistent service of all requesting customers. Consequently, the identification of promising template players is endogenous to our approach. We discuss the effect of template players on the service of non-template players and identify drivers of consistency. In addition, we provide a new Tabu Search neighborhood structure for heterogeneous vehicle routing under consistency, ensuring efficient vehicle deployment. We highlight the benefits of the approach by comparing our results with the routing solutions of a Bundesliga soccer club.

Exploring recruits’ motivations to enter policing in Small Island Developing States: The case of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service

Internationally, there is a substantial amount of research on motivations to enter the police profession; however, scant research attention has been paid to the motivations of individuals in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Trinidad and Tobago who choose policing as a career path. As a result, this research was designed to analyze motivations for entering the police profession by gathering data from recruits who had recently entered police academy training in Trinidad and Tobago. The research utilized a quantitative approach with self-administered questionnaires as the data-gathering instrument. Using data collected from 160 police recruits at the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) police academy who were two months into their induction training, this study attempts to answer four questions related to their motivations for entering policing. Statistical analyses of the data included comparisons between groups in the sample (males/females) to determine the existence of competing motivations. The results indicate that job security was the main motivation for entry into the TTPS and that the motivations of male recruits were more altruistic when compared with those of female recruits, which were generally self-serving. Other results and implications for policy are discussed.