NCJ Number
89519
Date Published
1981
Length
181 pages
Annotation
This study describes the status of police regional training facilities in Texas for 1979, with attention to the new, mandated 320-hour course for peace officers prior to certification, funding sources, and results of a training needs survey.
Abstract
Following a brief history of police training in Texas, the report describes the three components of the current delivery system: individual police agency academies; regional academies for areas without their own training programs; and statewide training conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, and Texas A&M University Police Training Division. Tables and charts compare these training programs with those in 46 other States. The discussion of funds that academies use for training covers LEAA grants, funding supplied by the Texas Education Agency, and tuition and membership fees paid by law enforcement agencies and students, and city-county appropriations. The study reviews the development of the new 320-hour basic training course and its curriculum. The results of a statewide training needs survey conducted by an independent contractor in 1978 are reported for four categories: sheriff's agencies; municipal police serving cities under 50,000 population; municipal police serving cities over 50,000; and combined airport, university, and municipal park police. Alternative systems for conducting law enforcement training at regional-type academies at their current locations while developing a long-range plan to select 15 regional academies with stricter controls over curriculum. Profiles of individual academies and the survey questionnaire are appended.