Doctoral Dissertation Research: Law Enforcement Recruitment and Training and Their Effects

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

In this project, the relationship of recruitment and training to the subsequent responses of organizational personnel is investigated with specific reference to the recruitment and training of law enforcement personnel and the use of force. Three principal questions are addressed: (1) How do law enforcement departments decide whom to hire? (2) How are law enforcement officers trained to use force? (3) What do the recruitment strategies and training practices reveal about how law enforcement departments conceptualize demographic characteristics and force? Recruitment and training are understudied components of the use of force by law enforcement personnel. By focusing on recruitment and training, this study will increase scholarly understanding of their importance in explaining the critical behavior of organizational personnel. It will help scholars, law enforcement departments, and other stakeholders better understand how organizational change may occur. Its findings also will provide important insights into the development of new approaches to recruitment and training. Recruitment and training in law enforcement departments are researched in this project using the methods of ethnography and interviews. The ethnographic activities include attendance at recruiting and hiring events, observation of classroom instruction, and participation in training activities including scenario-based training. The 40 interviewees include recruits in training, personnel in training units, personnel in recruiting and hiring units, and law enforcement personnel engaged in regular duties. Interviews follow a semi-structured format, in which the interviewees are asked open-ended questions about their background, their career decision, the hiring and training process, and their opinions concerning the use of force and related issues. Analysis and comparison of the responses, combined with the ethnographic observation, allow the development of theoretical insight into the effects of recruitment and training on subsequent use of force. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.