Field Training Officers' Ratings of Communication and Listening Skills in Police Officer Trainees

Researchers regard modern day policing as a dynamic profession due to factors such as growing community needs, technological advances, and expansion of law-enforcement duties (Glenn et al., 2003). These factors require that police officers develop effective ways to think critically about the costs and benefits of their actions in the field, particularly when engaging in intense and stressful situations that often require rapid decisions and decisive actions. To promote such effective performance under pressure, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has made a concerted effort to examine how to best prepare their police officers for policing within the 21st century, a process that has focused on an examination of police training methods and procedures. This process has resulted in curriculum changes to the LAPD Academy Recruit Basic Course (RBC) to better prepare incoming police officers for the challenges of modern day police work. The purpose of this study is to examine themes that have emerged from interviews with Field Training Officers (FTOs) in which they evaluated the field performance of Probationary Officers (P1s) trained in either the Old or New Curriculum. This comparison will specifically examine the qualitative data gathered from FTOs' survey responses and explore the nuanced information provided within their evaluations of P1 communication and listening skills.