NCJ Number
85616
Date Published
1978
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This evaluation of a 1-week course in investigation conducted for law enforcement officers with some investigative experience covers the students' backgrounds, their attitudes toward training methods, and views regarding course content.
Abstract
Data were collected from 39 students who attended two training sessions in February and March 1977. Most students had completed high school, and 60 percent had some college work. The average participant had about 5 years of law enforcement experience, and the majority had held their current position for 6 months to 15 years. The all-male group had an average age of 37 years, and two-thirds were veterans. Most students came from large suburban police departments. Approximately three-quarters felt that 40 hours was an appropriate course length, but 9.24 percent wanted a longer course. A third favored the present system of offering training courses in the metropolitan area, a third preferred establishing a training academy in each region, and a third favored establishing a training academy in the metropolitan area. In rating importance of the 10 training topics to job effectiveness, students gave top priority to forensic science, lineups and legal problems, and handling physical evidence. Psychological evaluation of victims, interviewing female victims, and silent alarms and police killed received medium ratings, while obscene calls and sex-motivated murders, privacy and freedom acts, organization of SWAT teams, and white-collar crime comprised the lowest group. White-collar crime consistently received the lowest ratings for importance, time spent, quality of instruction, and course materials. A sample questionnaire and comments from the evaluation questionnaires are appended.