Professional Development Curriculum as a Shaping Force for Police Training

Perhaps like never before, policing has been thrust into the national spotlight with every aspect of police practice scrutinized for its potential consequence for the public welfare. Increasingly, these lines of inquiry culminate with the demand for more police training as a method to address issues within the profession and to uphold the promise to serve and protect. Yet, given the plethora of extant literature citing the disconnect between police practitioners and the training they often receive (Cordner, McDevitt, & Rosenbaum, 2012; Vodde, 2012), the calls for more training (PTF, 2015; USDOJ, 2017) must be assuaged through the incorporation of progressive training models with a focus on curriculum and instruction. This study utilized archived data in the form of completed surveys to examine the short-term impact of a progressive professional development curriculum on attitudinal scores of front-line supervisors and field training officers in a large, urban police department. Specifically, archived responses allowed for a quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest design utilizing the completed surveys as an instrument for measurement intended to show how the perceptions of police practitioners were shaped through participation in a progressive authentic leadership training program. The results of this research suggest that participants’ endorsement of key training concepts, such as practicing solid values and establishing enduring relationships (George & Sims, 2007), was positively impacted by participation in the progressive professional development leadership program, regardless of gender or rank. Additionally, participation positively impacted general views on leadership and the viability of future professional development leadership efforts. The implication from findings is that a professional development curriculum can serve as a positive shaping force for police training so that it better aligns law enforcement with a progressive model of policing in line with the expectations of a changing profession and the people it serves. Future research should continue to focus on both the short and long term efficacy of progressive curriculum models in police training which seek to advance a police practice commensurate with the public demand for crime reduction and enhanced public trust.