This study examined the perceptions of law enforcements officers employed by rural and small law enforcement agencies on the effectiveness of the use of distance education technology as a delivery system for training programs. Four research questions were designed to assess officers’ perceptions. This study used both quantitative and qualitative analysis of data to assess these questions. Quantitative data were collected through the use of a pretest and post-test, and a survey. Qualitative data were collected through observations of subjects’ interaction with the treatment, interviews with participants, reviews of survey comments, and analyses of budget documents. The results of this study suggested that officers found the use of distance education technology as a means for delivering training courses to be effective. Agencies should ensure that their technology is compatible with the modality in which the course is presented and that their officers are trained in the use of this technology. Course material should include core information and supplemental material similar to that found in traditional face-toace courses. Online courses should contain the same structure as found in traditional face-toace courses. The environment in which the learning occurs should be comfortable, distractionree, and suitable for engaging in online learning.

In this thesis, I explore how law enforcement officials in Mississippi and Alabama make sense of and respond to human sex trafficking cases. The central questions guiding this research project are: How do law enforcement officials perceive sex trafficking and what does this mean for victim identification and treatment? By conducting 20 interviews with law enforcement officials, I offer insight into how the training, or lack of training, officers receive impacts victim identification, labeling, and treatment. Further, I examine how perceptions, experiences, and training work to influence officer responses to those that do not fit a typical victim narrative, such as sex workers, immigrant, and migrant populations.

The present study utilized a mixed-methods strategy to examine the effectiveness, diffusion, and institutionalization of the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model. To evaluate the effectiveness of the training component of the CIT model, a panel research design was employed in which a sample of 179 law enforcement officers and 100 correctional officers in nine Florida counties were surveyed on the first day of training (pretest), the last day of training (posttest), and one month following their completion of CIT training (follow-up). These surveys measured the extent to which CIT training achieved several officer-level objectives, including increased knowledge of mental illness and the mental health referral process, improved self-efficacy when responding to mental health crises, and enhanced perceptions of verbal deescalation skills, mental health services in the community, and the mental health referral process. The results of these surveys revealed officers experienced a statistically significant increase on every measure of training effectiveness between the pretest and posttest data collection points. However, a significant decline was found among the 117 officers that responded to the follow-up survey on the measures associated with self-efficacy and perceptions of verbal de-escalation, which points to a measurable decay in the effectiveness of the training in the intermediate timeframe with regard to these two measures. To examine the extent to which the diffusion of the CIT model resembles a social movement in the field of criminal justice and to explore the impact of CIT institutionalization on the organizational structure of criminal justice agencies, an online survey was distributed to 33 representatives of law enforcement and correctional agencies known to participate in the CIT program in the nine Florida counties in which officers were surveyed. The results of this survey indicate interagency communication and external pressure i from mental health providers and advocates largely contribute to the decision of criminal justice agencies to adopt the CIT model. In addition, the findings of this survey suggest criminal justice agencies modify their organizational structure in a number of different ways to internalize and institutionalize the CIT model. By coupling a training program evaluation with an assessment of diffusion and institutionalization, this study makes a unique contribution to organizational and evidence-based literature.

This research focuses on the association between law enforcement training and implementation of hate crime legislation. The Anti-Defamation League's state hate crime statutory provisions and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Hate Crime Reporting by States data are examined. Section one includes the following: What Constitutes Hate?, The History of Hate Crime Legislation, and Issues Facing Hate Crime Legislation. Section two surveys literature on both Hate Crime Legislation and the training of law enforcement officers. Section three discusses the Anti-Defamation League and FBI data in detail and explains the methods used to test the association between law enforcement training and reporting of hate crime legislation. Findings yield a statistically significant association between law enforcement training and reporting of hate crime legislation.

The action in distressed situations must be resolved in accordance with the laws and regulations that the police must take into consideration. In order to achieve this in the best possible way, the individual police officers sense of security in the situation is a key factor. A security that is closely associated with a deeper knowledgement, a feeling that arises when you feel in control of the situation, regardless of whether physical violence is ongoing or imminent. The individual´s own insight into their own ability means that the individual police officer will resolve the situation quickly and efficiently, which is described as a feeling of being one step ahead, being able to control the course of events. A belief that one can initially solve the situation through communication, physical coercion or finally with the tools available on the belt. The actions of an individual police officer in distressed situations depend on the knowledge and experience that the individual already possessed. It can be experiences from more controlled situations like MAT, POLKON-training or from similar events that have taken place earlier in duty. These underlying skills is the base for resolving the situation accordance with the laws and regulations that the police have to take into account. Eight respondents chose to participate in this qualitative study which consisted of an interview where the conversations were held about the concept of security and how the respondents would solve two situations as they were presented via video. This hermeneutic interpretation of the material can´t give any direct conclusions as the basis of the study is small but an indication that knowledge in MAT, makes the respondents more confident in the situations they were face with during the interviews.