The model precinct: issues involving police training.

The U.S. Attorney General recently stated that since President Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, crime has declined significantly.(1) This landmark crime-fighting legislation included funding for thousands of additional police officers. According to Attorney General Reno, "These officers are walking the beat and working with citizens, community leaders, and young people to fight crime and, indeed, to prevent it."(2)

However, a controversy over how to best train and qualify these new police officers exists. In parts of the United States, some smaller communities sponsor academies that barely meet state minimum police training standards, while others cannot even afford to sponsor their own police officers' basic training.

By comparison, many larger departments may have adequate resources to devote to their police academies and therefore can greatly exceed minimum standards. These jurisdictions often have academies that may triple or even quadruple the minimum length requirements established by state standards. Furthermore, those larger jurisdictions may require a college degree as a preliminary requirement for merely taking a police officer civil service exam, whereas smaller departments may not have this prerequisite.

Additionally, agency administrators nationwide are searching for a method to monitor and uplift the integrity and professionalism of their police officers. The Model Precinct may provide a creative solution to these dilemmas. By working with area colleges and universities, police agencies can provide a more meaningful way to educate future law enforcement officers.

The Structure of the Model Precinct

The Model Precinct involves harnessing the energies and talents of experienced law enforcement officers, as well as college educators, in order to prepare candidates for police officer work. In this preservice approach to police training, local police facilities serve as an extension of the college campus, and police personnel and college faculty collaborate on the implementation and design of the program.

The Model Precinct would combine intensive fieldwork experience, a college degree course of study, and the completion of basic police school requirements into a single program. It also would permit a unique collaboration between police officials and college professors for the purpose of designing an appropriate curriculum that fulfills these objectives.

Although no agency is known to specifically use the Model Precinct concept in its entirety, it was inspired by the achievements of the Sheriff's Academy in Chautauqua County, New York, which "has saved the taxpayers of western New York hundreds of thousands dollars in training costs."(3) The Model Precinct would begin with those students pursuing a degree at a local college in a field related to law enforcement. College administrators would assign students to a cooperating precinct as police interns during the entire length of their study. The precinct would consist of a department's physical buildings but also the surrounding public streets and parks of its jurisdiction. It also may include special assignments at certain social control agencies, such as departments of social services and family courts. Departments would carefully screen each intern to ensure they satisfy any requirements for a local police officer appointment. The Model Precinct program is especially suited for areas that currently lack the resources to conduct recruit training or offer academies that only satisfy minimum standards. Additionally, the program is viable for those jurisdictions that lack a preliminary college degree requirement for officers. The program also concurs with the views of those police education experts who advocate that police officer candidates should acquire a sound educational background prior to beginning their police service.(4) However, it differs from the general type of criminal .justice degree programs commonly offered because it would require students to involve themselves in day-to-day law enforcement operations as police interns and includes or exceeds all mandated training requirements.

The Model Precinct not only would fill a distinct void in the field of police training found in many parts of the country, but it also would overcome the limitations of police training regulations in some states, which allow only police departments to offer basic police academies. However, unlike some police academies where completion of a college degree merely represents an option for participants, the Model Precinct program would require the completion of a college degree as well as significant periods of fieldwork spread out during the length of this educational experience.

Most classroom instruction would take place at the campus of a local college by state-certified police training instructors. Members of sponsoring police agencies would serve as the lead instructors on the college campus along with regular college professors. Local police and college instructors would develop the academy's curriculum, which must be approved by college and state authorities. College officials would select an advisory council of knowledgeable community members for oversight purposes. The program would require students to work as police interns from 4 to 35 hours a week, depending upon the nature of the overall curriculum. All students would need to stay in good standing throughout their course of study in order to remain eligible for police training and to serve as police interns.

When required by state law, the sponsoring police agency would register its recruit school and members of the recruit class with appropriate state authorities, such as each state's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) bureau. Furthermore, if available, police departments should give interns auxiliary or reserve police status.

Implementing a Model Precinct would allow colleges flexibility in developing their curricula. For example, the model would not depend on any change in local, state, or national laws. Administrators could freely adjust their curricula as needed, as long as they ensured that it continued to exceed minimum statewide standards.

Advantages of the Model Precinct

Students would gain vital police experience by participating in the Model Precinct program and have the opportunity to earn a variety of police training certifications during their academic years. By obtaining firsthand knowledge of police work, students would better determine whether they wish to embark on a career in law enforcement. Upon graduation, students would not only possess a college degree in a criminal justice field but also would have the appropriate qualifications to begin working as police officers in many communities without the need for additional formal training. However, students seeking full-time careers would be required to take civil service exams. This significant requirement distinguishes this program from other police cadet programs that often waive such exams. Students' participation in the Model Precinct would better prepare them for exams, which historically have been an obstacle for some police candidates. Moreover, police departments often pay the cadets for their precinct work, but students in the proposed program would not get paid. The students still would have the benefit of liability insurance protection provided by the college.

During the course of the students' enrollment in the program, local police and other participating agencies would monitor the progress of each intern. When openings became available, the agencies would have the advantage of being familiar with the candidates, and the students would possess a great deal of the knowledge required for the job. The sponsoring departments also would benefit from the program by having the additional personnel available throughout the year. Also, by supervising and instructing the interns, agency personnel would gain useful leadership experience. Some employees who serve as intern mentors and field supervisors may receive tuition credits for their efforts from the participating college. Colleges typically use this benefit to reward agency field personnel who volunteer to supervise student interns.

The community would benefit from the services of the additional uniformed personnel for crime deterrence. Moreover, because of the availability of these police interns, departments could establish a variety of community policing programs. One of the most unique features of the Model Precinct program is that it can result in a substantial savings in police training costs, which become a shared undertaking with a local college.

Finally, police corruption can seriously undermine the public's faith in its police force and weaken the bonds necessary for successful community policing initiatives. Numerous police experts believe that a well-developed academy curriculum dealing with ethics and character building can reduce corruption. The cooperation of police and college instructors could lead to an adequate treatment of this issue.

Conclusion

Ultimately, all participants benefit from the Model Precinct program. Agencies would gain a pool of applicants who have successfully completed all police training requirements. Governments would benefit from the financial relief that comes from reducing the cost of training prospective police officers. The participating college would profit from increased enrollment. The students themselves would benefit by becoming precertified and thus more marketable.

The Model Precinct program would do more than merely take an existing training program and link it with an existing college program. The relationship envisioned between police agencies and colleges in the Model Precinct program demands more than a typical cooperative agreement might require. The personnel within the colleges and the police agencies must commit to the goals of the model program. On a continuing basis, college leaders must be prepared to acknowledge the major role performed by local law enforcement professionals in the program, and likewise, police chiefs must be willing to accept input from the college community.

A quarter of a century ago, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice declared that higher education was an appropriate standard for police professionalism. The adoption of a Model Precinct approach for the delivery of such an education can make a well-educated police force a reality for many agencies.

Endnotes

1 "Reno Credits Legislation for Crime Rate Decline," The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY), September 12, 1997, A6.

2 Ibid.

3 Robert Dyment, "A Successful Training Program: Police Academy Thrives in Cooperation with Local College," Law and Order, July 1997, 93-97.

4 Arthur J. Bilek, "Winning Back the Support of the Public by Slopping Police Corruption and Misconduct Before It Starts with Pre- Service Police Education," paper presented to the Conference on Criminal Justice Education, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York City, NY, October 20, 1995, 11.

Chief James Riggins, former commander of the Kingston, New York, Police Department, who passed away in May 1998 after a long illness, contributed to this article.

Mr. Greenberg is an assistant professor of criminal justice at the Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge, New York.