Transition to Community Policing: The Department's Role in Upgrading Officers' Skills

• NCJ Number: 175459
• Journal: Policing Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: 1997 Pages: 766-776
• Author(s): M G Breci
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Research indicates the transition to community policing depends on the development of skills and knowledge in line police officers, particularly to meet the demands of proactive policing.

Abstract

Education and training have been shown to be effective ways of changing attitudes and practices within an organization. For police agencies, college courses and continuing education can facilitate change to a more responsive form of policing. Further, most States require police officers to complete a specific number of continuing education credits each year. The number of hours required by each State ranges from 8 to 40 per year, with an average of 19.8 hours. Primarily, States require continuing education to fulfill the following purposes: keep up with new knowledge related to the profession; establish mastery of new conceptions of the profession; and continue study of basic disciplines that support the profession. In 1993, the Minnesota State Legislature requested information on the process used by the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training to reimburse continuing education funds to local law enforcement agencies. Questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of Minnesota's 7,019 active peace officers. Of 1,526 surveys mailed, 801 or 52 percent were returned. Most respondents were white (97 percent) and male (93 percent). The average age was 38.4 years. Findings suggested that Minnesota police agencies had not provided police officers with the training and support required for a successful transition to community policing. Many police officers received no community policing training from their agencies, despite the fact that most police agencies claimed to have implemented community policing. In many police agencies, special units were created to do community policing. For the majority of police officers not involved and not trained, knowledge and understanding of community policing was based on misconceptions and inadequate information. The author concludes police agencies need to have a clear vision of traits, skills, and knowledge police officers must have in order to develop an effective continuing education program. 26 references, 5 notes, and 5 tables