Bibliography: p. 56-63.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Technology, Sydney, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65).

Thesis (MEdPsych)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Η αλλαγή στη μορφή της κοινωνίας και η αύξηση της εγκληματικότητας κατέστησε επιτακτική την ανάγκη να αλλάξει ο αστυνομικός, μέσω της ανάληψης νέων ρόλων και της εκπαίδευσής του. Στη βιβλιογραφική επισκόπηση διαπιστώθηκε η περιορισμένη μελέτη των Ελλήνων αστυνομικών και για το λόγο αυτό πραγματοποιήθηκε η συγκεκριμένη διατριβή που σκοπό είχε να εξεταστούν οι γνώσεις και η μεταβίβαση των αστυνομικών πρακτικών και τεχνικών στον εργασιακό χώρο. Η έρευνα εστίασε στη μελέτη της στάσης, της συμπεριφοράς και της νοοτροπίας του αστυνομικού σε σχέση με την αποτελεσματικότητα της εκπαίδευσής του, καθώς και της ανανέωσης δεξιοτήτων μέσω προγραμμάτων συνεχιζόμενης εκπαίδευσης. Παράλληλα, έγινε προσπάθεια αναγνώρισης πιθανών περιορισμών και τομέων που απαιτούν βελτίωση στην εκπαίδευση των Ελλήνων αστυνομικών. Για το σκοπό αυτό, διανεμήθηκαν ερωτηματολόγια σε 83 μάχιμους αστυνομικούς, διαφόρων βαθμίδων ιεραρχίας, που υπηρετούσαν σε Αστυνομικά Τμήματα της Ελληνικής Αστυνομίας και σε 94 δόκιμους αστυφύλακες. Από όλους τους συμμετέχοντες ζητήθηκε να αξιολογήσουν οι ίδιοι την πληρότητα των γνώσεων που έχουν αποκτήσει και την ποιότητα της εκπαίδευσής τους. Επίσης, θεωρήθηκε σημαντικό να διαπιστωθεί η αναγκαιότητα της συνεχιζόμενης εκπαίδευσης των αστυνομικών.Η συγκεκριμένη μελέτη έδειξε ότι οι συμμετέχοντες μάχιμοι και δόκιμοι αστυνομικοί επιζητούν τη συνεχιζόμενη εκπαίδευση λόγω της αλλαγής των μορφών εγκληματικότητας όπως, το ηλεκτρονικό έγκλημα, τρομοκρατία. Αναγνώρισαν την ανάγκη βελτίωσης και ανανέωσης των δεξιοτήτων τους μέσω προγραμμάτων συνεχιζόμενης κατάρτισης. Ακόμη, έδειξε ότι υπάρχει διαφορά μεταξύ των δόκιμων και των μάχιμων αστυνομικών όσον αφορά στην εκπαίδευσή τους. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, ο δόκιμος θεωρεί την εκπαίδευσή του ιδανική εφόσον νιώθει ότι κατά την αποφοίτησή του θα είναι σε θέση να αντιμετωπίσει οποιοδήποτε συμβάν με τον κατάλληλο τρόπο. Η δια βίου μάθηση και εκπαίδευση είναι απαραίτητη και για τον σύγχρονο αστυνομικό και αποδεικνύεται από τη συγκεκριμένη μελέτη η επιθυμία και η ανάγκη των αστυνομικών για συμμετοχή τους σε προγράμματα κατάρτισης. Οι συμμετέχοντες αναγνωρίζοντας την ανάγκη για συνεχή ανανέωση των γνώσεων και δεξιοτήτων προτείνουν την υλοποίηση προγραμμάτων συνεχιζόμενης εκπαίδευσης κάθε 3-5 χρόνια με θέματα που αφορούν κυρίως τεχνικές αυτοάμυνας, αυτοπροστασίας, επικίνδυνης οδήγησης και χρήσης όπλου. Ακόμη, προτείνουν την εφαρμογή και συζήτηση πραγματικών περιστατικών σε εικονικές συνθήκες (case scenario – role playing). Όπως προαναφέρθηκε, η περιορισμένη βιβλιογραφική αναφορά στη μελέτη των Ελλήνων αστυνομικών επιβεβαιώνει την ανάγκη για μελλοντικές έρευνες, όπως η μελέτη του συγκεκριμένου θέματος με μεγαλύτερο αριθμό συμμετεχόντων. Ο σημερινός δόκιμος θα εξελιχθεί σε μάχιμος αστυνομικός και θα μπορούσε να αποτελέσει θέμα για μελλοντική έρευνα η αξιολόγηση της άποψης των δόκιμων μετά από ένα εύλογο χρόνο εμπειρίας τους στον εργασιακό χώρο. Επίσης, πρόταση για μελλοντική έρευνα θα μπορούσε να είναι η αξιολόγηση αστυνομικών μετά τη συμμετοχή τους σε προγράμματα συνεχιζόμενης κατάρτισης όσον αφορά στη μεταφορά της γνώσης στον εργασιακό χώρο. / The role of the police officer is constantly changing according to society’s needs. New forms of crime have emerged thus, requiring a type of police officer with decision making skills and knowledge of advanced technology. A research of the available literature concerning training and development of human resources was carried out and a limited amount of research of Greek police officers was found. This quantitative study examined Greek police officers’ level of knowledge, the transfer of knowledge and their attitudes toward basic training and continuing education. Included were the factors influencing the police officers’ training and the possible need for continuing education needed in order to perform their job more effectively. The police officers’ evaluation towards the efficiency of their training and their attitudes toward continuing development of each one’s skills through continuing education programs were considered. Another aim of this study was to identify possible limitations and areas needing improvement in the Greek police officers’ training. The study included police officers from various departments and divisions of the Hellenic Police Force. Eighty three (n=83) police officers on active duty and ninety four (n=94) police officer cadets. The satisfaction gained from education and training along with each individual’s need for continuing development was examined.The results demonstrated that this sample believed in the value of training and continuing education. Their attitudes and behaviors were greatly influenced by their education. Based on the results, the participants sometimes felt unprepared due to the changing types of crimes such as cybercrimes, human and drug trafficking, terrorism. Continuing education was found to be desired and needed by these officers who suggest the implementation of continuing education programs every 3-5 years concerning such topics as self-defense tactics and use of weapons. They also suggest the use of teaching methods such as role playing and case scenarios in their training program. These findings may provide administrators with information to develop strategic goals and actions needed to improve basic training and continuing education programs. These programs are much needed so that police officers become more efficient in transferring their knowledge to the work environment. Continuous education concerning various policies and updates on new information is recommended to increase job effectiveness. As was mentioned previously, the limited literature found confirms the need for further research by studying a larger sample. A follow-up study should be conducted to measure the improvement in the use of techniques that are necessary for the police officer to efficiently fulfill his duties.

The centrality of the police in everyday life means police officers are in position of power to actively support or threaten democratic activities (Sklansky, 2008) for example during protests. In democracies, policing duties should be performed in ways that sustain democratic values, rather than undermine them (Loader, 2006), yet that is not always the reality. Police training is one of the tools for aligning officers' behaviour with societal norms; it is considered a protection against the possibility that police officers abuse the wide-ranging powers they hold (Manning, 2010). Training programs are therefore a basic feature of all police forces' organizational approach. Despite its centrality, training has not received extensive academic attention; there is a pressing need to understand the impact of training on police behaviour and the mechanisms thorough which it operates (Skogan & Frydl, 2004). This thesis attempts to advance the evidence-base of democratic police training following the Medical Research Council's framework for the development and evaluation of complex social interventions (Craig et al., 2008). The Israeli Border Police was chosen as the context to examine the potential of training to advance democratic norms. The three stages of the research project included: theoretical modelling of the existing complex training intervention to assess its alignment with existing evidence; participatory development and piloting of a training curriculum on policing of protests in a democracy that used an Adult Education approach and introduced Procedural Justice-related components; and a pilot quasi-randomised study to evaluate this training. Analysis and reporting are carried out in a way that allows assessment of prospective scale-up and generalisability. Flowing from the empirical work, four strands of theoretical contributions are put forward. First, a theoretical model of police training is proposed, drawing on social psychology constructs. Second, contact theory, which originates in peace education, is proposed as a possible platform for designing both police training and their evaluation studies. Third, four factors limiting the efficacy of Procedural Justice & Legitimacy based training interventions in deeply divided societies are outlined. Fourth, the Border Police case study is used to substantiate the value of participatory research methods for advancing knowledge translation and evidence-based policing.

M.Cur. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The thesis explores the role of academic education in police professionalisation. Due to its high complexity, specialisation and status, detective work is well-suited for illustrating these developments and the practical and symbolic benefits they can bring to the police and policing as a whole. The overall approach of thesis is iterative. Literature from police studies and sociology of professions provides the conceptual and theoretical framework for the empirical data of 24 semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 police national training coordinators and local police trainers. The increasing academisation of police training and the formalisation of the police-academia relationships suggest police professionalisation has reached a tipping point. This is seen in the current investigative skills training in England and Wales, which is characterised by growing centralisation, standardisation, and emphasis on formalising the professional knowledgebase of investigations and policing – a trend which the Professionalising Investigation Programme exemplifies. While the police (including the investigative specialism) can be shown to display many of the qualities of professions, it has lacked the level of instructional abstraction characterising other professions, typically provided by higher education and, crucially, leading to externally recognised qualifications. Developing academic police education is not without its challenges, chief among them the perceived epistemological and cultural divide between the ‘two worlds’ of police and academia. A successful transformation requires careful consideration of the content and format of the arrangements, investment, support, acceptance and engagement from police, academia and government, and a simultaneous change to cultural dispositions (habitus) and internal and external structures (field). This is worth the effort as a number of practical and symbolic benefits of police academic education can be identified. It has the potential to improve the quality of service by deepening police knowledge and understanding and facilitating community-oriented approaches. More importantly, academic education bestows a rich cultural capital, strengthens and legitimises police expertise, market monopoly, and status in the eyes of the public, other professions and the government. It enables the survival of the profession, giving it the tools to prevail in conflicts over competence and the right to define and interpret policing and its social context. In summary, police professionalisation via academic education can be explained in terms of agency and structure both; as a deliberate occupational upgrading spurred by social and economic aspirations and aimed to reconceptualise and relegitimise policing; and as an inevitable reaction to wider changes and a deeper ontological shift taking place in the society.

After the United Nations' mission in Liberia (UNMIL) ends on September 30, 2015, effective policing will be a security concern for Liberians. Liberians have expressed fear that conflict could return if ongoing police training programs do not sustain public safety. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to understand how UNMIL's training affected public confidence in the Liberia National Police (LNP). The theoretical bases for this study included public choice theory and liberal democratic theory. Quantitative data were used to address impact of UNMIL's police training on the maintenance of law and order. These data were collected through a researcher-developed survey which measured recruitment, training, effectiveness (insert comma here) and public confidence in the LNP. Participants were government officials, members of UNMIL, LNP, and civic organizations (n = 120). Data were analyzed using ANOVA. Qualitative semistructured interview data were also gathered from 18 additional participants to address the challenges for quality improvement in the police security forces. The results were inductively coded and organized across themes and patterns. Quantitative findings indicated a moderately significant correlation between police perceived knowledge and job effectiveness (r = -0.35). However, qualitative findings show the government of Liberia failed to provide adequate resource support to complement the training due to its weak commitment. Diversity of trainers from contrasting policing jurisdictions produced an outcome that lacked a country-specific context for Liberia. This study promotes positive social change by informing future police training interventions by the United Nations on a host county's policing needs.

The police and the community have been long engaged in an ever-evolving dichotomous relationship. This relationship has been strained over the recent decade by police brutality, media coverage of police misconduct, and the increased call for police transparency. Both parties in this disparaging dynamic see the need for improved engagement and communication efforts. This research studied the underlying perceptions, assumptions, and expectations of the police and police training within four demographically diverse neighborhoods in upstate New York. This interpretive phenomenological study focused on the importance of lived experience and experiential learning in creating expectations and assumptions. Twenty-four participants total were sampled in this research. Through semi-structured interviews and focus groups of twelve police officers and twelve community members, three research questions were explored. First, what was the perceived role of the police in society? Secondly, what lived experiences brough the respondents to these expected roles of the police? Lastly, what type of changes can be made in police training and community learning to improve the police/community relationship? Using thematic networking and vignette sampling, multiple findings were identified, and four analytic categories were synthesized. The analysis showed that policing expectations and assumptions are based on lived experiences, childhood presumptions, and cultural norms. Secondly, the lived phenomenon of policing varies based on the socio-economic, cultural, and community settings. Thirdly, transformational critical incidents play a significant role in the creation of assumptions and expectations. Finally, the study showed a dichotomous relationship between the police and the community on ways to improve police training and the policing culture. In conclusion, this study offered various recommendations for both the police population and the community population in steps to improve the community/police dynamic. These recommendations included the creation of a measurable instrument for gauging public perception/approval, increased educational requirements for police officers prior to employment, consideration of an over-reliance on evidence-based tactics, emphasis in police training on the importance of experiential and transformational learning, and the adoption of a more holistic moniker for the policing culture. Community recommendations included the creation of co-learning environments, embracing police engagement over interaction, and emphasis on leveraging the power of lived experience and community-based learning.