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Transferring Police Academy Training to the Street: the Field Training Experience

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Abstract

This research examines the role of police field training officers (FTOs) in the transfer of police academy training to the job. The authors issued a pilot survey instrument, the Police Learning Environment Inventory (PLEI), to assess the role of FTO behaviors in the transfer of academy training. The survey was issued to police organizations in the southwest and northeast regions of the USA. Survey responses were analyzed to determine both dimensional structure of FTO behaviors and their relationship to trainee intent to transfer academy training to the job. Results demonstrate that an array of FTO behaviors fall under a single dimension. Further, this behavioral dimension was significantly associated (p < .01) with police officer intent to transfer academy training to the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. US Department of State, Washington, DC, USA

    Adam Dulin

  2. McLennan Community College, Waco, USA

    Linda Dulin

  3. University of New Haven, New Haven, USA

    Jairo Patino

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  1. Adam Dulin
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  2. Linda Dulin
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  3. Jairo Patino
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Correspondence to Adam Dulin.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the McLennan Community College Institutional review Board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Dulin, A., Dulin, L. & Patino, J. Transferring Police Academy Training to the Street: the Field Training Experience. J Police Crim Psych 35, 432–442 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-019-09353-2

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