How can research knowledge be incorporated into field training?

One area of policing where research knowledge can be incorporated into police practice is field training. Field training is where officers experience, observe, and apply the knowledge and skills they gained in the academy to practical tasks. It is also the environment in which their initial impressions of good-quality police work are formed, where proactive habits can be developed, and where positive attitudes towards problem-solving and assessment can be inculcated.

Toward these goals, this demonstration focuses on how principles from what we know about effective and fair policing might be incorporated into existing processes, forms, and activities in a typical field training environment. This can be accomplished through:

1. Revisions to the performance measures that field training officers complete to incorporate more evidence-based principles from research knowledge. For example, grading officers on their geographic orientation (how well they know the streets and buildings in their district) might also include grading officers on how well they know the locations of crime concentrations within their beats (reflecting research on hot spots) and what contributes to those concentrations.

2. Revisions to tasks and activities required of each trainee. For example, traditional “beat checks” can incorporate ideas from hot spots and problem-oriented policing research. Or, lessons on making arrests can also incorporate research knowledge on focused deterrence strategies. When addressing the community, CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) might be applied.

3. Use of an easy-to-digest Playbook that provides operational ideas and activities in patrol that are aligned with an evidence-based approach.   

4. Use of additional materials on more complex topics that the new officer may not have learned in the academy. In addition to activities conducted in the field to demonstrate competence, officers can continue learning about more complex topics that may not have been covered in the academy. This may include policing approaches such as evidence-based proactivity, problem-solving, procedural justice, and intelligence-driven policing, as well as on specific types of incidents and policing interventions (domestic violence, drug market interventions, field and traffic stops, etc.). The CEBCP has a library of one-page summaries of knowledge, as do organizations like the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing for their members. The CEBCP also has video-taped briefings on special topics of interest, such as gun violence or youth and the police.