EVALUATION OF POLICE RECRUIT TRAINING INVOLVING PSYCHOLOGY

This paper provides a brief overview of a five-year long evaluation pr oject involving psychology and police training. In the 1980s the Londo n Metropolitan Police made substantial changes to the initial training course that new recruits receive. Assessments of the effectiveness of this training (as revealed by extant and specially designed questionn aires, by observations of police behaviour, by interviews with members of the public who had interacted with police officers, and by complai nts data) are reported. The on-going evaluation provided feedback and guidance (some was positive, some was negative) to the police force, w hich acted upon all the recommendations made.