You Have the Right to Remain Violent: Police Academy Curricula and the Facilitation of Police Overreach

• In Event: Police Brutality and Use of Deadly Force

Abstract

Police departments in the United States boast the ability to protect and serve the public through proactively patrolling neighborhoods, investigating criminal activity, and engaging in community oriented policing, among other things. However, they must also be prepared to maintain officer safety when dealing with the public. The foundations for many of these skills are typically learned in the police academy, where recruits undergo classroom instruction, scenario testing, physical fitness, and weapons and tactics training. However, critics of police officer standards and training argue that an overwhelming amount of police academy curricula is devoted to the learning of aggressive techniques, such as firearms training, chemical agents training, emergency vehicle operation, response to riots, and arrest and control tactics, while very little time is devoted to diversity and cultural awareness, communications techniques, and how to investigate various crimes. The current study examines curricula from state and municipal police academies across the country in an effort to address whether police academies in the United States are preparing prospective police officers for public service or preparing them for battle. Implications for public policy are addressed.

Author

• Caitlin G. Lynch, Old Dominion University