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Law enforcement officers (LEOs) may use physical force unnecessarily or escalate problem behavior when attempting to gain the compliance of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Copenhaver & Tewksbury in American Journal of Criminal Justice 44:309–333, 2019). Although specialized training may remedy this problem, the relatively small literature on such training programs indicates the need for further research (Railey et al. in Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 2020). This study used simulations with actors to evaluate the outcomes of performance-based instruction on strategies to promote compliance when LEOs respond to calls involving individuals with ASD. Results for three LEOs and 24 police cadets demonstrated the efficacy of behavioral skills training (BST) for teaching LEOs how to interact more effectively with individuals with ASD. Results also suggested that hands-on training should supplement commonly used forms of didactic instruction.

Scenario-based exercises employing figurants are frequently used in vocational education worldwide. The purpose of these exercises is to help the students develop practical knowledge and skills on their way to becoming professional practitioners. While previous research often concentrates on the exercises’ design, level of realism and complexity, there is a knowledge gap regarding the use of figurants, not least when it comes to advantages and disadvantages with different figurant types. The aim of this study is to investigate how, why and in what type of exercises figurants are used in Swedish police education. The empirical material derives from interviews with teachers, students, and figurants from five Swedish police education programmes, focusing on the interviewees’ experience of the use of internal, external, and semi-external figurants in distinctive exercises. The three figurant types were attributed specific effects on the implementation of exercises and were perceived as having different advantages and disadvantages depending on the purpose of each exercise, the impact being particularly noticeable in relation to levels of realism, permissive environments, the counterpart perspective, safety concerns, feedback, and simulation competence. The choice of figurant type has an equally important impact on the outcome of the scenarios as other factors, and there is a need for more research on the use of figurants in relation to student learning.

Highly publicized interactions between law enforcement officers (LEOs) and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have raised questions about LEOs’ training related to ASD. In the present study, 157 LEOs participated in ASD-specific training and completed pretest and posttest surveys of autism knowledge, confidence, and self-monitoring. The majority of LEOs responded to calls involving someone with ASD in the last year, with 20% of these calls resulting in involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. LEO knowledge of ASD, self-confidence in responding to calls, and self-monitoring of performance increased from pretest to posttest. Compared to male counterparts, female officers were less likely to use force and handcuffs when responding to ASD-related calls. Female officers’ self-confidence increased significantly more than male officers.

Police officers frequently come into contact with individuals with mental health problems. Specialist training in this area for police officers may improve how they respond to individuals with mental health problems; however, evidence to support this is sparse. This study evaluated the effectiveness of one bespoke mental health training package for frontline police officers relative to routine training. Pragmatic, two-armed cluster randomised controlled trial in one police force in England. Police stations in North Yorkshire were randomised with frontline police officers receiving either a bespoke mental health training package or routine training. The primary outcome was the number of incidents which resulted in a police response reported to the North Yorkshire Police control room up to six months after delivery of training. Secondary outcomes included: likelihood of incidents using Section 136 of the Mental Health Act; likelihood of incidents having a mental health tag applied; and number of individuals with a mental health warning marker involved in incidents. The appropriateness of mental health tags applied to a random sample of incidents was checked by an independent mental health professional. Routinely collected data were used. Twelve police stations were recruited and randomised (Intervention group n = 6; Control group n = 6), and 249 officers received the bespoke mental health training intervention. At follow-up, a median of 397 incidents were assigned to trial stations in the intervention group, and 498 in the control group. There was no evidence of a difference in the number of incidents with a police response (adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.92, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.38, p = 0.69), or in the number of people with mental health warning markers involved in incidents (adjusted IRR 1.39, 95% CI 0.91 to 2.10, p = 0.13) between the intervention and control groups up to six months following the intervention; however, incidents assigned to stations in the intervention group were more likely to have a mental health tag applied to them than incidents assigned to control stations (adjusted odds ratio 1.41, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.71, p = 0.001). The review of 100 incidents suggests that there may be incidents involving individuals with mental health issues that are not being recorded as such (Kappa coefficient 0.65). There was no statistically significant difference in the likelihood of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act being applied to an incident. The bespoke one day mental health training delivered to frontline officers by mental health professionals did not reduce the number of incidents reported to the police control room up to six months after its delivery; however training may have a positive effect on how the police record incidents involving individuals with mental health problems. Our trial has shown that conducting pragmatic trials within the police setting is feasible and acceptable. There is a wealth of routinely collected police data that can be utilised for research and further collaboration between police forces and academia is encouraged. ISRCTN (ISRCTN11685602). The authors confirm that all ongoing and related trials for this drug/intervention are registered.

IntroductionPolicing practices are key drivers of HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID). This paper describes the protocol for the first study to prospectively examine the impact of a police education programme (PEP) to align law enforcement and HIV prevention. PEPs incorporating HIV prevention (including harm reduction programmes like syringe exchange) have been successfully piloted in several countries but were limited to brief pre–post assessments; the impact of PEPs on policing behaviours and occupational safety is unknown.ObjectivesProyecto ESCUDO (SHIELD) aims to evaluate the efficacy of the PEP on uptake of occupational safety procedures, as assessed through the incidence of needle stick injuries (NSIs) (primary outcome) and changes in knowledge of transmission, prevention and treatment of HIV and viral hepatitis; attitudes towards PWID, adverse behaviours that interfere with HIV prevention and protective behaviours (secondary outcomes).Methods/analysisESCUDO is a hybrid type I design that simultaneously tests an intervention and an implementation strategy. Using a modified stepped-wedge design involving all active duty street-level police officers in Tijuana (N=∼1200), we will administer one 3 h PEP course to groups of 20–50 officers until the entire force is trained. NSI incidence and geocoded arrest data will be assessed from department-wide de-identified data. Of the consenting police officers, a subcohort (N=500) will be randomly sampled from each class to undergo pre-PEP and post-PEP surveys with a semiannual follow-up for 2 years to assess self-reported NSIs, attitudes and behaviour changes. The impact on PWIDs will be externally validated through a parallel cohort of Tijuana PWIDs.Ethics/disseminationResearch ethics approval was obtained from the USA and Mexico. Findings will be disseminated through open access to protocol materials through the Law Enforcement and HIV Network.Trial registration numberNCT02444403.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of police education in California. There is limited national data on the topic and this study aims to improve our knowledge by studying the state with the highest number of law enforcement officers in the USA. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 162 local law enforcement agencies (police and sheriffs’ departments) in California completed a 32-question electronic survey about police education and training. Findings – Findings reveal that California agencies are more likely than agencies nationwide to offer incentives to encourage officers to pursue higher education. Although most departments require only a high school diploma, 35 percent of sworn officers are college graduates. Most college-educated officers are employed by medium and large sized agencies in urban counties which pay above-average salaries. Research limitations/implications – This paper demonstrates how the prevalence of educated police officers varies and that higher education requirements do not adversely affect the hiring of female officers. It also provides insight from police managers regarding their concerns about requiring a four-year degree and perceptions of whether college-educated officers are actually better officers than non-college-educated officers. Practical implications – Research findings may be instructive to police managers wanting to increase the number of sworn officers in their agency who hold a college degree. Originality/value – It adds to the literature by describing the education level of police officers in California and providing information about the educational requirements and incentives offered to officers by law enforcement agencies. No previous study has addressed this topic, even though California employs 12 percent of all sworn peace officers in the USA.

PurposeThis paper outlines some of the key results of a PhD study of the teaching and teaching development experiences of police educators practising in Australian police academies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the variation in police educators’ teaching and teaching development experiences, with these results being used to inform a developmental pathway for these practitioners.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research specialisation called phenomenography was used for the data collection and analysis process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 police educators from across five police academies. The transcribed interviews were analysed using comparative analysis to constitute a limited number of qualitatively different categories representing variation from less to more complete experiences.FindingsThe results were represented via two sets of categories that were discussed in relation to the broader domains teacher- and learner-centeredness, and potential staff development pathways for police educators.Practical implicationsDiscussion of the results highlighted ideal approaches to teaching and teaching development and examined the limitations on staff development in relation to the less sophisticated experiences. Finally, the implications of these results were discussed in terms of potential staff development strategies within police academies.Originality/valueThis research is unique in terms of police educators’ experiences of their teaching and teaching development.

Context: This study is about the teaching method of simulation exercises and is set in a police education context. Simulation exercises are a central part of Swedish police education, and therefore it is of interest to explore how they are used, and for what purpose, by investigating police teachers' perceptions of this teaching and learning method. Police teachers are police officers who work as teachers at a police education unit on contracts lasting a few years, but which can be extended, and they usually lack any formal pedagogical training. Approach: In this study, the exploration of the use of simulation exercises was conducted through an inductive approach which included semi-structured interviews with 12 police teachers. The analysis was carried out in several steps. To promote impartiality in the initial data analysis the researcher first stayed close to the data and connection with the findings of previous studies was only considered in the latter stages of this analytic process. Findings: The findings show that the police teachers perceive that the overall purpose of simulation exercises is for students to apply specific content taught in courses, both physical techniques and methods, and more theoretical knowledge, in the fluid context of scenarios relevant to police work. The results also show that the teachers are aware that the purpose of the exercises is stated in the planning documents, but because they inherit the designs from previous teachers, they may not be aware of the underlying details of it or what is to be achieved in the scenario. The findings also demonstrate that the teachers learn the craft of designing and performing simulation exercises and develop their roles as teachers through an informal workplace learning process that involves tacit knowledge developed through working together, and by talking to and observing each other. Conclusion: The paper contributes to the field of simulation exercises in vocational (higher) education in that the findings can provide educated arguments for the need for scholarly discussions on simulation exercises as a pedagogical tool that supports student learning, as well as arguments for why formal pedagogically-oriented continuing education on the design and implementation of simulation exercises where learning is in the foreground may be needed to support police teachers' professional development.

Facial image comparison practitioners compare images of unfamiliar faces and decide whether or not they show the same person. Given the importance of these decisions for national security and criminal investigations, practitioners attend training courses to improve their face identification ability. However, these courses have not been empirically validated so it is unknown if they improve accuracy. Here, we review the content of eleven professional training courses offered to staff at national security, police, intelligence, passport issuance, immigration and border control agencies around the world. All reviewed courses include basic training in facial anatomy and prescribe facial feature (or 'morphological') comparison. Next, we evaluate the effectiveness of four representative courses by comparing face identification accuracy before and after training in novices (n = 152) and practitioners (n = 236). We find very strong evidence that short (1-hour and half-day) professional training courses do not improve identification accuracy, despite 93% of trainees believing their performance had improved. We find some evidence of improvement in a 3-day training course designed to introduce trainees to the unique feature-by-feature comparison strategy used by facial examiners in forensic settings. However, observed improvements are small, inconsistent across tests, and training did not produce the qualitative changes associated with examiners' expertise. Future research should test the benefits of longer examination-focussed training courses and incorporate longitudinal approaches to track improvements caused by mentoring and deliberate practice. In the absence of evidence that training is effective, we advise agencies to explore alternative evidence-based strategies for improving the accuracy of face identification decisions.

Police officers often serve as first responders during out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA). Current knowledge and attitudes about resuscitation techniques among police officers are unknown. Hypothesis/problem This study evaluated knowledge and attitudes about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) among urban police officers and quantified the effect of video self-instruction (VSI) on these outcomes. Urban police officers were enrolled in this online, prospective, educational study conducted over one month. Demographics, prior CPR-AED experience, and baseline attitudes were queried. Subjects were randomized into two groups. Each group received a slightly different multiple-choice test of knowledge and crossed to the alternate test after the intervention, a 10-minute VSI on CPR and AEDs. Knowledge and attitudes were assessed immediately before and after the intervention. The primary attitude outcome was entering \"very likely\" (5-point Likert) to do chest compressions (CC) and use an AED on a stranger. The primary knowledge outcomes were identification of the correct rate of CC, depth of CC, and action in an OHCA scenario. A total of 1616 subjects responded with complete data (63.6% of all electronic entries). Randomization produced 819 participants in group 1, and 797 in group 2. Groups 1 and 2 did not differ significantly in any background variable. After the intervention, subjects \"very likely\" to do CC on a stranger increased by 17.2% (95% CI, 12.5%-21.8%) in group 1 and 21.2% (95% CI, 16.4%-25.9%) in group 2. Subjects \"very likely\" to use an AED on a stranger increased by 20.0% (95% CI, 15.3%-24.7%) in group 1 and 25.0% (95% CI, 20.2%-29.6%) in group 2. Knowledge of correct CC rate increased by 59.0% (95% CI, 55.0%-62.8%) in group 1 and 64.8% (95% CI, 60.8%-68.3%) in group 2. Knowledge of correct CC depth increased by 44.8% (95% CI, 40.5%-48.8%) in group 1 and 54.4% (95% CI, 50.3%-58.3%) in group 2. Knowledge of correct action in an OHCA scenario increased by 27.4% (95% CI, 23.4%-31.4%) in group 1 and 27.2% (95% CI, 23.3%-31.1%) in group 2. Video self-instruction can significantly improve attitudes toward and knowledge of CPR and AEDs among police officers. Future studies can assess the impact of VSI on actual rates of CPR and AED use during real out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.