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.

Working with the public benefit corporation SURVIVR, I conducted a user experience study to determine how effective the Summer 2019 build of the virtual reality (VR) police training tool SurviVR was at meeting the product's goal of providing officers-in-training with realistic, immersive training experience. Two virtual training scenarios, entitled Active Shooter and Emotionally Disturbed Person (EDP), were the focal points of the study. At two of the product's pilot demonstration locations over eleven total sessions, I gathered observational data and audiovisual recordings and administered paper surveys based in qualitative methods (with a few quantitative elements). Using these data collection tools and techniques, I inquired into the themes of immersion and realism in the virtual scenarios and what design features the participants felt positively or negatively impacted their experiences of these themes. SurviVR's nature of containing both real-world and virtual elements that are pertinent to user experience necessitated a framework that addresses ethnography of virtual worlds, hybrid ethnography, and design anthropology. This study contributes to the expanding field of VR applications and understanding how improved immersion and realism can aid in the effectiveness of VR as a training tool.

This thesis analyzes the training and perceptions on mental health of a particular population. Through the use of previous research and literature, a survey was generated and distributed to the population. The findings were used to generate policy implications for the specific population that was analyzed.