CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE TECHNIQUES AND METHODS MAY HAVE ON POLICE

Criminal Investigative Techniques and Methods May Have On Police

Criminal Investigative Techniques and Methods May Have On Police

Training Police academy training must go beyond arrest procedures to include COP skills (Anyatt, 1993). Academy training is notoriously deficient in instruction that emphasizes discretionary application of a range of skills that apply to real world circumstances (Kelling, Wasserman, & Williams, 1988).

Much academy training is undermined in the field. This is the reason a change to a community policing philosophy and its corresponding organizational changes must be taught to senior members of the department. The Field Training Officer (FTO) program needs to be modified to put an emphasis on ethical problem solving and decision making to migrate the culture of the agency toward a COP philosophy (Overman, 1994).

Research has demonstrated that properly trained and motivated officers who are given the freedom to make decisions, will be enthusiastic about the COP concept (Goldstein, 1993). According to Couper and Lobitz (1992), training is a primary factor in order to put theory into action. The management team should be the first to be trained in the new style of leadership.

The training that is most effective is not in a training setting, but daily interaction of personnel adopting the change consciously. In addition, it is important to reward supervisors who practice their new problems policing skills or they will be put it aside and return to the traditional methods (Malone, 1994).

Rarely has the entire department been trained as in Port St. Lucie, where the North Miami Beach agency trained all personnel including the civilian support staff (Saitz, 1991). Currently, there has been a deficit in advance training needs which creates stress for officers who are committed to the philosophy but not always equipped to address certain challenges. Portland reports that it was the first major city in the United States to train all employees in the implementation of COP (Kuechled, 1992). The Portland Police Bureau has incorporated COP into its advance officer academy, in service school, and FTO program, reflecting a proactive approach (Austin, 1992).

Traditionally, law enforcement has spent 90% of their time training officers to do what they spend 15% of their time doing. They need to learn techniques of problem analysis and strategies for solutions. More attention is needed for conducting follow-up training regarding practical applications in the area of public speaking, peer mediation, mental health issues, and creative problem solving. Supervisory training should be designed to provide skills to facilitate the problem solving process.

Evaluations and Measurement There is a definite need for measuring the effectiveness of all community policing efforts which includes modification of performance evaluation and reward systems.

Academic studies talk about what should be measured but do not address how to implement the measurement. Before a COP program is implemented for a long duration, it is vitally important that new measures capture the progress and successes so baseline data can be collected (Brown, 1992). Bonnie Bucquero of the National Center for Community Policing has commented on how ...