Basic police officer training in Oklahoma: An assessment of effectiveness and relevance.

Abstract

This study was undertaken to collect and analyze data that would assist in assessing the relevance and effectiveness of the entry level law enforcement officer training program in Oklahoma. Additionally, the study was concerned with the extent to which the knowledge, skills and attitudes newly acquired from training were subsequently used by new officers. Since not every law enforcement agency has the same mission, the study was confined to police departments only.

The data collection method used in this study was the mailed survey. A graduate and a supervisor survey were designed to answer research questions regarding the 87 specific lessons that comprise the Oklahoma basic law enforcement officer training program. Survey booklets were forwarded to 146 Oklahoma police departments for 290 graduates (1993-1995) who continue to be employed by the department sending them to basic academy training. From the graduate surveys distributed, 86 (56.2%) departments and 188 (66.2%) graduates returned the surveys for analysis. From the supervisor surveys distributed, 80 (54.8%) departments responded. Of these, 48 (32.9%) were counted as supervisory responses, but 32 (21.9%) were counted as graduate responses due to size of department or length of time the respondent had been on the job. One supervisor survey was discounted from the study because it was incomplete.

To assess how well the basic training program prepares graduates to do their jobs, graduates and their supervisors were surveyed to learn if the amount of training received was adequate. Graduates and supervisors were also asked to rate the importance of the information they received in relationship to the performance of their jobs. Additionally, graduates were asked to rate the quality of their basic training and to provide information concerning tasks they perform for which they received no basic training.

The basic procedure for data analysis involved rank ordering. Once all data entries had been made to spreadsheets, the spreadsheets were entered into the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences (SPSS) where cross-tabulations, cumulative totals and rank orderings were produced in table form. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was utilized in making inferences about the population.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relevance and effectiveness of the basic law enforcement training program in Oklahoma. Based on the information obtained during this study and the analysis of this data, it is apparent that respondents consider basic academy training to be relevant and effective training.