About this Research Topic
The education and training of police officers have a prominent role in equipping officers with the knowledge structure, competencies, attitudes, and values, that are needed to professionally conduct their duties in alignment with the ideals of a democratic society. The learning and development of police officers takes place in formal learning settings such as theoretical lectures or police training. However, research indicates that (a) police officers also learn through a variety of non-formal and informal learning settings and that (b) learning (and socialization) takes place beyond the explicit curriculum of police education and training institutions. In this sense, the focus is not only on the question of what is learned in police education and training but also on underlying concepts as they relate to society in general. The current debates around police reform sparked by the death of George Floyd are the result of the interaction of a plethora of factors operating on different levels of analysis. Re-evaluating police education and training through a reflexive pedagogical perspective addresses one leverage point of the complex system that has repeatedly led to unfavorable outcomes in police-citizen encounters.
The Research Topic aims at investigating the learning and development of police officers, providing evidence and reflection for advancing police education and training in alignment with democratic ideals. As such articles may focus on the current practice of police education and training in various institutions with its explicit and implicit curriculums and their socializing process.
Consistently, the present research Topic will examine police education and training through a multidisciplinary lens. We encourage a variety of article types including mini-review, original research, protocols, perspectives, opinions, conceptual analysis, curriculum instruction and pedagogy, policy brief, review, provided that they are consistent with the aims of the Research Topic.
This Research Topic welcomes studies and contributions aiming at eliciting: what and how learning is taking place within the police and contributing to the debate on how education and training might be optimized. We encourage contributions from intersecting disciplines as well as from an integrated team of researchers and police practitioners.
** We would like to acknowledge Benni Zaiser for his contribution in putting this Research Topic together **
The Research Topic aims at investigating the learning and development of police officers, providing evidence and reflection for advancing police education and training in alignment with democratic ideals. As such articles may focus on the current practice of police education and training in various institutions with its explicit and implicit curriculums and their socializing process.
Consistently, the present research Topic will examine police education and training through a multidisciplinary lens. We encourage a variety of article types including mini-review, original research, protocols, perspectives, opinions, conceptual analysis, curriculum instruction and pedagogy, policy brief, review, provided that they are consistent with the aims of the Research Topic.
This Research Topic welcomes studies and contributions aiming at eliciting: what and how learning is taking place within the police and contributing to the debate on how education and training might be optimized. We encourage contributions from intersecting disciplines as well as from an integrated team of researchers and police practitioners.
** We would like to acknowledge Benni Zaiser for his contribution in putting this Research Topic together **
Keywords: Police training, Police education, Police use of force, police reform, performance transfer
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
