Procedural Justice Training for Police Recruits: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

• In Event: Evaluation of Police Training Programs

Abstract

Procedural justice training for police officers is designed to improve officers’ interactions with the public. Aside from the fact that it is a given that citizens deserve to be treated in a fair manner by authorities such as the police, based on the literature, it is expected that if the police act in a procedurally just manner they will be seen as more legitimate and citizens will subsequently be more willing to cooperate or comply with them. The present study was designed to evaluate the impact of a specifically designed procedural justice knowledge and skills-based training programme on first year police officers’ attitudes and interactions with the public. Fifty-six police recruits were matched into pairs with one officer from each pair randomly selected to participate in a short procedural justice training programme at the end of their recruit training period. In addition to being surveyed about procedural justice-related attitudes, as newly inducted first year police officers, all 56 recruits’ (both PJ-trained and not) interactions with the public were evaluated in real-time by their field training mentors in relation to procedurally just behaviours. Results suggest some positive effects of the training on both officer attitudes and actual on-the-job behaviour.

Authors

• Emma Antrobus, University of Queensland

• Ian Thompson, Queensland Police Service

• Barak Ariel, University of Cambridge