“Insufficient guidance and a lack of preparation”: Police academy training and the reality of police work
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/26338076231167880 |
| Author | Toby Miles-Johnson |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
“Insufficient guidance
and a lack of preparation”:
Police academy training and
the reality of police work
Toby Miles-Johnson
School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, Liverpool, New
South Wales, Australia
Abstract
Police academy training is the foundation of police performance. In Australia, police academy
programmes are usually delivered internally by police officers and are underpinned by trad-
itional policing practices and acceptable methods of response deemed suitable. There is little
research, however, which determines whether Australian police academies adequately pre-
pare recruits to conduct police work or prime recruits for the reality of policing. Analysing
data collected from 46 constables working in one of the largest Australian police organisa-
tions, this research offers original insight into a previously under-research area regarding
the effectiveness of police academy training in preparing recruits for general-duties police
work.
Keywords
Police, training, academy, preparedness, engagement
Date received: 6 July 2022; accepted: 21 March 2023
Introduction
Like police organis ations across the gl obe, Australian pol ice academies vary in t he type and
depth of general-duties training police recruits receive. The average time spent in an
Australian polic e academy is 28 weeks
1
or six and a half months , and police trainin g
within academy set tings is not standardi sed, and is mostly inter nally delivered by pol ice
officers or training officers employed by the o rganisation. While some Australian police
Corresponding author:
Toby Miles-Johnson, School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, 100 Macquarie Street, Liverpool, NSW,
2170, Australia.
Email: t.miles-johnson@westernsydney.edu.au
Article
Journal of Criminology
2023, Vol. 56(2-3) 213–233
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/26338076231167880
journals.sagepub.com/home/anj
organisations apply training principles outlined by Australia and New Zealand Policing
Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), most curriculum delivered by police academies are identified
by the organisation as being relevant to policing practice or mandated by legislation. Some
Australian police organisations have partnerships with tertia ry providers regard ing
educating recruits in specialist skills and knowledge that is beyond the expertise of the
academy (for examp le cyber-crime, fo rensic science, and data analysis) but p olice
academy general-duties curriculum is usually delivered internally by police officers
employed by the organisation and are underpinned by traditional policing practices and
acceptable method s of response. “In-house”police training, is the norm for all Australian
police academies, but it is heavily criticised for its focus on standard training packages
(often comprising le gal studies, defence an d tactical skills train ing, driver training, p hysical
conditioning, policing procedures, and firearms training) and lack of non-standard training
such as policing of diverse communities and misconduct related training (Miles-Johnson &
Pickering, 2018; Spencer et al., 2016).
Upon graduation from the police academy, Australian police officers are expected to be
able to deal with all sorts of situations and scenarios involving members of the public and
must respond competently and professionally to different crimes and criminal situations in a
proficient manner, while understanding the legislation as well as rules and regulations which
govern police work (Miles-Johnson, 2019). Yet the increasing professionalised role of the
police suggests that police academy general-duties training programmes should be tailored
so that police officers can effectively recognise and respond to complex policing situations.
This should be a dynamic process, whereby the curricula should be constantly evolving to
suit modern policing activities, progress in technology, and changes in legislation. Critics of
police training argue however, that while police training and education in Australia have
progressed at a steady pace, particularly in New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria,
police academy training is static, and does not enable police officers to engage effectively
with all members of society or recognise and respond to problems and situations in the
modern world (Bartkowiak-Théron, 2019; Miles-Johnson, 2019; O’Shea &
Bartkowiak-Théron, 2019).
Most Australian police organisations base their general-duties training models on bench-
marks of competency whereby recruits are assessed as achieving a standard of proficiency in
policing (Miles-Johnson, 2019). Competency benchmarking in relation to police work starts
at the onset of academy training, with most Australian police organisations extending compe-
tency training as recruits enter the constable phase of their career. But this is not standardised,
competency measures regarding professional performance can extend for another 12 months as
police officers are deemed capable of dealing with different situations and problems encoun-
tered during police work (New South Wales Police, n.d.; Northern Territory Police, n.d.;
Queensland Police Service, 2020; Victoria Police, 2020). It is the initial academy training
which underpins the confidence, competency and professionalism of police officers and is,
arguably, the point of confirmation for most police officers that they can adequately undertake
the duties of a police officer. To examine the effectiveness of police academy training on recruit
preparedness to conduct general-duties police work, this research conducted interviews with 46
constables working in one of the largest Australian police organisations (de-identified as part of
the ethics agreement). As such, this research offers original insight into a previously under-
researched area regarding the effectiveness of police academy training in suitably preparing
police officers.
214 Journal of Criminology 56(2-3)
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