U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics *************************************************************** This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.csv) and the full report including tables and graphics in .pdf format are available on BJS website at: http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5684 *************************************************************** ************************************************************** This report is one in a series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all in the series go to http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=80 ************************************************************ *********** Bulletin *********** ********************************************************* State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2013 ********************************************************* Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D., BJS Statistician From 2011 to 2013, a total of 664 state and local law enforcement academies provided basic training to entry-level officer recruits in the United States. During this period, nearly 135,000 recruits (45,000 per year) entered a basic training program, and 86% completed the program successfully. This completion rate was the same as was observed for the 57,000 recruits who entered training programs in 2005. About half (48%) of recruits were trained by academies using a training model that was more stress than nonstress oriented in its approach (figure 1). Stress-based training is based on the military model and typically involves intensive physical demands and psychological pressure. About a fifth (18%) of recruits were trained by academies that maintained more of a nonstress environment. The nonstress model emphasizes academic achievement, physical training, and a more relaxed and supportive instructor–trainee relationship. A third (34%) of recruits were trained in academies that balanced the two approaches. This report uses data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) 2013 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies (CLETA) to describe basic training programs for new recruits based on their content, instructors, and teaching methods. It also describes the recruits’ demographics, completion rates, and reasons for failure. The data describing recruits cover those entering basic training programs from 2011 to 2013. The data describing academies are based on 2013, the latest year referenced in the survey. Like prior BJS studies conducted in 2002 and 2006, the 2013 CLETA collected data from all state and local academies that provided basic law enforcement training. Academies that provided only in-service, corrections and detention, or other specialized training were excluded. Any on-the-job training received by recruits subsequent to their academy training is not covered. (See Methodology for additional details.) ********************************************************** ************ HIGHLIGHTS ************ * On average, 45,000 recruits entered basic law enforcement training programs each year from 2011 to 2013. * From 2011 to 2013, 86% of the recruits who started a basic training program completed it successfully. * About 1 in 7 recruits entering basic training programs were female. * Nearly 1 in 3 recruits were members of a racial or ethnic minority. * From 2011 to 2013, academies at 2-year colleges graduated the most recruits (10,000 per year), followed by municipal police (7,000) academies. * Excluding field training, basic training programs lasted an average of about 840 hours, or 21 weeks. * Major training areas included operations (an average of 213 hours per recruit); firearms, self-defense, and use of force (168 hours); self-improvement (89 hours); and legal education (86 hours). * Nearly all academies required basic training on community policing, with an average of more than 40 hours of instruction per recruit. * Nearly all basic training programs addressed social issues such as domestic violence (an average of 13 hours per recruit) and mental illness (10 hours). ********************************************************** ********************************************* Educational institutions operated nearly half of law enforcement training academies ********************************************* From 2011 to 2013, nearly half (47%) of the academies that provided basic training for new recruits were based at an educational institution such as a 2-year college (33%), 4-year college or university (7%), or technical school (7%) (table 1). Municipal police departments operated 20% of academies, sheriffs’ offices operated 10%, and state police or highway patrol agencies operated 6%. State Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) agencies, which typically certify peace officers, operated 5% of academies. ********************************************* State POST and college/university academies were the least likely to use a stress-oriented training model ********************************************* Nearly 1 in 4 academies (23%) reported their training environment was all or mostly stress oriented (table 2). State police or highway patrol academies (61%) were the most likely to use this type of training model. For all other types of academies, no more than 32% used a predominately stress oriented training model. Twenty-six percent of academies reported a slightly more stress than nonstress training environment. Overall, a majority of state police or highway patrol (76%), multiagency or regional (60%), and sheriff’s office (58%) academies used training models that were more stress than nonstress oriented to at least some degree. More than a quarter of the academies operated by 4-year colleges and universities (33%), state POST agencies (28%), and 2-year colleges (27%) used a training model that was more nonstress than stress oriented. About 1 in 10 state police or highway patrol (9%), multiagency or regional (10%), county police (10%), and sheriff ’s office (11%) academies were more nonstress than stress oriented in their approach. ************************************************ More than 2 in 5 recruits were trained at academies operated by educational institutions ************************************************ Nearly all (96%) state and local law enforcement training academies used a class structure for basic training (groups of recruits being trained at the same time) (not shown). From 2011 to 2013, academies held a median of six training classes, or two classes per year (table 3). The median smallest class size was 14 recruits and the median largest class size was 28 recruits. Overall, there was a large range of class sizes. Some academies had classes with 1 graduate and others had classes with more than 1,000 graduates (not shown). From 2011 to 2013, an average of 44,891 recruits entered basic training programs each year (table 4). More than two-fifths of the recruits were trained at academies primarily operated by educational institutions, including 2-year colleges (28%), 4-year colleges and universities (8%), and technical schools (7%). About half (47%) of these academies offered an academic degree track (not shown). About 17% of recruits entered training programs at municipal police academies. State POST agencies, which operated only 5% of all academies, trained 13% of all recruits. Academies operated by sheriffs’ offices trained 8% of all recruits, and those operated by state police or highway patrol academies trained 7%. County police (3%) and special jurisdiction (1%) academies trained the smallest numbers of recruits. ****************************************************** Nearly 1 in 3 recruits entering basic training programs were members of a racial or ethnic minority ****************************************************** A total of 488 (73%) academies provided data on the sex of 91,000 recruits entering basic training programs from 2011 to 2013. Fifteen percent of these recruits were female, down slightly from the estimated 17% in 2005 (figure 2). During the same period, 336 (51%) academies provided data on race and Hispanic origin for 58,000 recruits entering basic training. As in 2005, 70% of these recruits were white, and 30% were members of a racial or ethnic minority. Blacks and Hispanics each accounted for 13% of recruits, and 4% were members of other races. ****************************************************** Excluding field training, basic law enforcement training programs lasted an average of about 21 weeks ******************************************************* Excluding field training, the average length of a basic law enforcement training program in a training academy was about 840 hours, or 21 weeks (table 5). This was about 2 weeks longer than was observed in the 2006 CLETA. Academies operated by agencies with special jurisdictions (such as natural resources, parks, or transportation systems) had the longest training programs (an average of 1,075 hours), followed by county police academies (1,029 hours). Academies operated by state POST agencies (650 hours), technical schools (703 hours), and sheriffs’ offices (706 hours) had the shortest training programs on average. Across all types of academies, each recruit spent an average of 806 hours each completing basic training (not shown). ***************************************************** More than a third of academies included a mandatory field training component in their basic program ***************************************************** Overall, 37% of academies (which trained 31% of all recruits) required recruits to complete a mandatory field segment after graduating from the basic academy training program. Field training provides recruits with the opportunity to work with a field training officer in order to learn the practical aspects of law enforcement and community service, and to assimilate into the professional culture of a particular agency. More than two-thirds of state police or highway patrol (76%), county police (76%), municipal police (71%), and special jurisdiction (69%) academies had a field training requirement. An additional 44% of academies (which trained 45% of all recruits) reported that there was a field training requirement, but the hiring agency oversaw it. When agency-specific requirements were included, there was a field training requirement for recruits at all county police and special jurisdiction academies and at nearly all municipal police (97%), multiagency or regional (96%), state police or highway patrol (94%), and sheriff ’s office (90%) academies. Among academies that oversaw a mandatory field training component, the average program was about 500 hours. Municipal police academies (630 hours) had the longest field training programs on average. ************************************************ Academies required an average of 168 hours of Basic training per recruit on weapons, defensive tactics, and the use of force ************************************************ Among the major topical training areas in the CLETA survey instrument, the most required training hours were in the area of operations (more than 200 hours per recruit). Major topics covered in operations training included patrol procedures (52 hours), investigations (42 hours), emergency vehicle operations (38 hours), and report writing (25 hours) (table 6). An average of 168 hours per recruit were required for training on weapons, defensive tactics, and the use of force. Recruits spent most of this time on firearms (71 hours) and self-defense (60 hours) training. Recruits also spent an average of 21 hours on the use of force, which may have included training on agency policies, de-escalation tactics, and crisis intervention strategies. Recruits were typically also required to take training classes in self-improvement (89 hours per recruit) and legal education (86 hours). On average, more than half of self-improvement training hours were related to health and fitness (49 hours). A majority of the legal training focused on criminal and constitutional law (53 hours) and traffic law (23 hours). Nearly a third (29%) of academies required basic foreign language training with an average of 9 hours per recruit (not shown in table). ************************************************ About two-thirds of recruits received some computerized firearms training ************************************************ About 9 in 10 recruits received training on the use of firearms under night-time or reduced-light conditions (93%) or simulated stressful conditions (89%)(figure 3). Most recruits also received firearms training under nonlethal live fire (75%) and in computerized firearms training systems (64%). Nearly all recruits received training on weapon retention (99%), verbal command presence (99%), and ground fighting (94%) (figure 4). Most of recruits were also trained on pressure- point control (85%) and speed cuffing (77%). ************************************************ About 8 in 10 recruits received reality-based scenario training on the use of firearms ************************************************ Nearly all recruits (99%) were trained at academies that incorporated reality-based (mock) scenarios into their use of- force training (figure 5). Such training allows recruits to practice critical decision making, execute standard operating procedures, and employ potentially life-preserving tactics under the duress of realistic conditions. About 9 in 10 recruits received reality-based training on arrest control tactics (91%), verbal tactics (88%), and self-defense (87%), and about 8 in 10 received this type of training on the use of firearms (80%) and the use-of-force continuum (77%). More than 7 in 10 recruits (74%) received reality-based training on the use of nonlethal weapons. ************************************************ Stress-oriented academies used more types of reality-based training than nonstress academies ************************************************ All high-stress (defined as all or mostly stress) academies and nearly all low-stress (defined as all or mostly nonstress) academies (94%) used one or more types of reality-based scenario training. On average, high-stress academies used this type of training for eight of the nine training areas identified in the 2013 CLETA survey instrument, compared to an average of six areas for the low-stress academies. A higher percentage of high-stress academies than low-stress academies used each type of reality-based training. The difference was greatest for threat assessment (65% compared to 41%), nonlethal weapons (87% compared to 63%), and firearms training simulators (71% compared to 50%) (figure 6). ******************************************************* About 4 in 5 recruits received training on how to identify the excessive use of force by other officers ******************************************************* In 2013, 81% of academies (which trained 81% of all recruits) provided basic training on how to identify and respond to excessive force used by other officers (table 7). This was similar to the findings in 2006. About 9 in 10 academies operated by county police departments (90%), sheriffs’ offices (89%), and municipal police departments (86%) provided this type of training. ************************************************ Academies required an average of more than 40 hours of community policing training ************************************************ Community policing continued to be an important component of basic law enforcement training in 2013. Nearly all (97%) of academies (which trained 98% of recruits) provided training in this area, up from the 92% observed in 2006 (table 8). In 2013, recruits were required to complete an average of more than 40 hours of training in community policing. A majority received training on how to identify community problems (77%), the history of community- oriented policing (75%), interacting with youth (62%), using problem-solving models (61%), environmental causes of crime (57%), and prioritizing crime and disorder problems (51%) (figure 7). ***************************************************** Nearly all basic training programs addressed social issues such as domestic violence and mental illness ***************************************************** More than 90% of academies included training on domestic violence (an average of 13 hours per recruit), mental illness (10 hours), and sexual assault (6 hours). More than 80% provided training on domestic preparedness and terrorism (9 hours), crimes against children (6 hours), victim response (5 hours), and gangs (4 hours) (table 9). ******************************************************** Nearly all recruits received terrorism-related training ******************************************************** In 2013, 95% of academies (which trained 95% of recruits) provided basic training on terrorism-related topics, an increase from 2006 (90%). A majority of recruits received training on the National Incident Management System/Incident Command System (78%); understanding the nature of terrorism (69%); response to weapons of mass destruction (68%); relevant federal, state, and local agencies (60%); disaster response and recovery (56%); and intelligence gathering (53%) (figure 8). ************************************************ From 2006 to 2013, the number of training hours required for firearm skills increased ************************************************ Between 2006 and 2013, the average amount of instruction required per recruit increased the most for firearms skills, from 63 hours in 2006 to 71 hours in 2013 (figure 9). Decreases were observed for criminal and constitutional law (from 64 hours to 53 hours) and patrol procedures (from 58 hours to 52 hours). ************************************************ Two-thirds of academies used input from academy staff to assist with curriculum development ************************************************ In 2013, nearly all academies reported they had developed content for their basic training program in response to mandates from a state POST or other state-level agency or commission (93%) (figure 10). A majority of academies also developed content in response to legislative or regulatory mandates (56%). About two-thirds (67%) of academies used input from staff members and about half (54%) used outside subject- matter experts. For the seven development methods identified in the 2013 CLETA, responses to legislative or regulatory mandates showed the largest increase compared to 2006 (from 45% in 2006 to 56% in 2013). ************************************************************** ************************************************ Academies employed more than 5,000 sworn personnel as full-time instructors ************************************************ In 2013, academies employed more than 15,000 full-time instructors and nearly 23,000 part-time instructors. A third (33%) of the full-time instructors were sworn officers permanently employed by or permanently assigned to the academy (table 10). Another third of full-time instructors were on-duty sworn officers temporarily assigned to the academy (19%) or off-duty sworn officers compensated to teach (16%). About 4 in 10 (42%) part-time training academy instructors were off-duty sworn officers compensated to teach, and about 2 in 10 (21%) were adjunct faculty. On-duty sworn officers temporarily assigned to the academy accounted for 9% of part-time instructors. ************************************************ Academies employed an average of 21 full-time and 32 part-time instructors ************************************************ On average, academies employed 37 full-time- equivalent instructors, including 21 full-time personnel and 32 part-time personnel (figure 11). Academies operated by state POST agencies were the largest, employing an average of 70 full-time-equivalent instructors, with 44 full-time instructors and 51 part-time instructors. On average, academies operated by technical schools (26) and 4-year colleges and universities (27) had the lowest number of full-time-equivalent instructors. More than 140 academies employed 50 or more full-time- equivalent instructors (21%), including 37 academies with 100 or more (5%) (table 11). A majority (55%) of all academies employed at least 25 full-time-equivalent instructors. ************************************************ About 3 in 4 academies required full-time instructors to have law enforcement experience ************************************************ Three-quarters (75%) of academies required full-time instructors to have a minimum number of years of law enforcement experience prior to employment (table 12). The average requirement was about 4 years. About a third of academies required full-time instructors to have a 4-year degree (15%), 2-year degree (10%), or graduate degree (8%)(table 13). A majority of the academies operated by 2-year colleges (62%), technical schools (60%), and 4-year colleges and universities (53%) had a degree requirement for instructors. ************************************************ Nearly all academies required both full-time and part-time instructors to be certified ************************************************ Nearly all academies required full-time (98%) and part-time (96%) instructors to be certified by a state POST commission or other state-level agency (appendix table 7). Full-time instructors in 80% of academies and part-time instructors in 72% of academies were required to have state-level certification. About 60% of academies required full-time and part-time instructors to be certified as subject-matter experts. Seventy-four percent of academies provided ongoing or refresher training for their instructors (appendix table 8). ************************************************ More than 9 in 10 academies used student input when evaluating the performance of instructors ************************************************ Ninety-one percent of training academies used student feedback when evaluating the performance of academy instructors (appendix table 9). Supervisory evaluations (74%) were also widely used. Less than half of academies used ratings by other trainers (45%) or state certifications (41%) when evaluating instructors. ************************************************************** ************************************************ Academies used a variety of tests to evaluate recruits ************************************************ Nearly all academies evaluated recruits with written tests (95%) and skills proficiency tests (93%), and they administered a median of 16 written tests and 5 skills proficiency tests to each recruit (table 14). Eighty-eight percent of academies used physical fitness tests with a median of three tests, and 76% used scenario-based tests with a median of seven tests. Competency exams constructed by a state POST commission or other state-level agency were used by 70% of academies. ************************************************ About 6 in 7 recruits who started a basic training program completed it successfully ************************************************ From 2011 to 2013, 86% of all recruits who started a basic law enforcement training program completed it successfully and graduated from the academy (table 15). Academies based at technical schools (92%) had the highest overall completion rate. The completion rates at academies operated by county police departments (83%), 2-year colleges (82%), and state police or highway patrol agencies (81%) were slightly lower than the overall average. By size of academy, completion rates ranged from 81% for those with fewer than 25 instructors to 88% for those with 100 or more full-time instructors (not shown). The average completion rate per academy was highest among those operated by state POST agencies (92%) and sheriffs’ offices (90%). The lowest averages were observed in academies operated by state police or highway patrol agencies (80%) and 2-year colleges (81%). From 2011 to 2013, an average of 38,560 recruits completed basic law enforcement training at state and local academies each year. Academies at 2-year colleges graduated the most recruits during this period, an average of more than 10,000 per year, followed by municipal police academies (nearly 7,000 per year) and state POST academies (more than 5,000 per year). ****************************************************** Academies with an all or mostly nonstress Training environment had the highest completion rates ****************************************************** At the 488 academies (73%) that provided data on the sex of 91,000 recruits, 87% of males and 80% of females completed the training (figure 12). At the 336 academies (51%) that provided data on race and Hispanic origin for about 58,000 recruits, 86% each of whites, Hispanics, and recruits of other races completed the training, compared to 79% of blacks. In academies that used an all or mostly nonstress training environment, 91% of recruits who started a basic training program completed it, compared to 85% in other academies (not shown). About a third of male (36%) and female (31%) recruits that failed to complete their basic training did so because they voluntarily withdrew from the program (table 16). Excluding these voluntary withdrawals (for which no further information is available), the most common reasons that male recruits did not complete training were poor academic performance (38%), failure to meet physical standards (19%), injury or illness (15%), and disciplinary problems (9%)(figure 13). The most common reasons that female recruits did not complete training were poor academic performance (25%), failure to meet physical standards (24%), poor firearms performance (17%), and injury or illness (15%). ************** Methodology ************** ************************* Academy response rate ************************* A master list of law enforcement training academies operating in the United States was compiled from a variety of sources, including professional associations, state law enforcement training organizations, and existing law enforcement data collections. An initial screening verified the telephone number, mailing address, and other academy contact information. From 2011 to 2013, a total of 664 academies nationwide provided basic law enforcement training and were eligible to be included in the survey. A total of 591, or 89%, of all eligible academies responded to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) 2013 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies (CLETA). When classified by type of operating agency, the response rate was higher than 80% for all 10 types of academies (table 17). Nonresponse adjustment and imputation **************************************** To adjust for the effect of nonresponse, the average number of recruits trained each year from 2011 to 2013 had to be estimated for nonresponding academies. Data on the number of recruits trained were available from the 2006 CLETA for most of these academies. A general adjustment was made to the 2006 recruit counts to account for the overall lower number of recruits in 2013 compared to 2006. These adjusted 2006 CLETA recruit counts were used as imputed values for the 2013 CLETA. Some nonresponding academies were new to the CLETA data collection in 2013, and therefore no data were available for 2006. For these academies, the median number of recruits for the corresponding type of academy in 2013 was used as an imputed value. Once a value for number of recruits trained per year had been imputed for each nonresponding academy in the 2013 CLETA, a nonresponse adjustment factor was created for each type of academy. This nonresponse adjustment was defined as the ratio of the total number of recruits trained per year for all academies of that type (actual and imputed) divided by the number of recruits trained per year by the academies that provided data in response to the 2013 CLETA. These nonresponse adjustment factors ranged from 1.021 for county police academies to 1.648 for academies operated by 4-year colleges and universities (table 18). While the count-based measures related to recruits presented in the report are weighted and include some imputed values, no adjustments were made to the percentage-based measures related to academies that are presented. These measures represent only the academics that responded to the survey. Item response rate ******************** Item response rates were higher than 90% for nearly all of the items included in the 2013 CLETA, excluding items related to the demographics of recruits. Eighty-three percent of academies reported the sex of recruits, and 57% reported their race and Hispanic origin. While 93% of academies reported the reasons that recruits failed to complete a training program, the percentage dropped to 74% when broken down by the sex of recruits (table 19). Accuracy of the estimates **************************** The accuracy of the estimates of recruits and instructors presented in this report are subject to measurement error: measurement error can be attributed to many sources such as the inability to obtain information about all cases in the sample, inability to obtain complete and correct information from the administrative records, and processing errors. In any survey, the full extent of the measurement error is never known. Because the estimates for recruits and instructors were weighted to account for non-response, variance and standard error estimates for these values were generated using the SUDAAN statistical software package. The Taylor linearization method for a “stratified without replacement” design was used for these calculations. These standard error estimates may be used to construct confidence intervals around recruit-based and instructor-based numbers and percentages in this report. For example, the 95%-confidence interval around the average number of recruits who started basic training annually in state and local law enforcement training academies is 44,891 ± 6,233 (3,182 × 1.96) (or 38,658 to 51,124). The 95%-confidence interval around the percentage of recruits who completed their training program would be 86% ± 1.8% (0.9 × 1.96) (or approximately 84% to 88%). The standard errors may also be used to test the significance of the difference between two statistics by pooling the standard errors of the two estimates. For example, the standard error of the difference between male and female recruits who successfully completed training would be .55% (or the square root of the sum of the squared standard errors for each group).The 95%-confidence interval around the difference would be 1.96 × .55% (or 1.1%). Because the observed difference of 7.1% (87.3% minus 80.2%) is greater than 1.1%, the difference would be considered statistically significant. ************************************************************** The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of criminal and civil justice systems at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. BJS collects, analyzes, and disseminates reliable and valid statistics on crime and justice systems in the United States, supports improvements to state and local criminal justice information systems, and participates with national and international organizations to develop and recommend national standards for justice statistics. Jeri M. Mulrow is acting director. This report was written by Brian A. Reaves. Shelley Hyland verified the report. Irene Cooperman and Jill Thomas edited the report. Barbara Quinn and Tina Dorsey produced the report. July 2016, NCJ 249784 ************************************************************** ************************************************* Office of Justice Programs Innovation * Partnerships * Safer Neighborhoods www.ojp.usdoj.gov ************************************************* ********************** 6/22/2016 3:08pm JER **********************