Andragogical Instruction for Effective Police Training By Robert ...

officers. While a traditional, pedagogical, military model of training may have at one time served the needs and interests of society, its applicability and efficacy have recently come under question. Toward that end, it is theorized that an andragogical instructional methodology is a more effective means for training police recruits. In this context, this study will begin with a brief examination of the history of American policing; the nature and extent of basic training; the learning processes associated with training; and a comparison of the traditional, pedagogical, military model of training to an adult-based, andragogical training methodology.

To understand policing within the United States, including its training practices, it is important to acknowledge that the historical development of the police has been strongly influenced by, and in many respects is paralleled similar to, the developments in the United Kingdom (Gaines & Miller, 2005). Walker and Katz (2005), addressing this relationship, explained that the police in the United States are a product of their history and, consequently, have been strongly influenced by English heritage. This heritage includes the traditions of “common law and the high value placed on individual rights,” its judicial system, and the variety and extent of its law enforcement agencies. Underscoring Britain's influence, the authors pointed out that the United Kingdom has “contributed three enduring features to American policing”: (1) a tradition of limited police and government authority, thus placing “a high premium on protecting individual liberty,” (2) “a tradition of local control of law enforcement agencies,” and (3) a highly decentralized and fragmented system of policing (Walker & Katz, 2005, pp. 25–26). Indeed, any discussion of America's police, which has been characterized as a series of tumultuous transitions, would be deficient if it did not recognize the influence of Britain's reforms and the impact they have had on the United States, perhaps most notably those initiated by Sir Robert Peel and his commissioners in 1829 under the auspices of the Act for Improving the Police in and Near the Metropolis (Peak, 2006, pp. 12–16). Widely recognized as the father of modern policing, Peel's reforms continue to influence America's current policing practices (Walker & Katz, 2008).