The police and the behavioural sciences

Selection of reports on collaborative efforts between police agencies and behavioral scientists to improve recruitment, selection, and human relations training. During the past few years, a number of interesting collaborative efforts have taken place between police agencies and behavioral science consultants in developing innovative programs to improve police practices. The major emphasis of the programs reported here centers around the area of human relations training. There has been a growing recognition of the importance of such training because of the very considerable discretion given a police officer in dealing with people. What's more, 75 to 90 percent of the job of an urban police officer is involved with the delivery of non-crime related human services. The training programs represented in this volume include the areas of child and juvenile contacts, race relations, family crisis intervention, conflict management, and community relations. These programs represent a significant departure from traditional police training which has frequently been a matter of indoctrination through lectures. New directions are explored in learning and curriculum design to instill in the officer the good judgment, decision making ability, prudence, and understanding which are required for a professional response to field situations. In addition, this compilation of reports includes a description of programs to design police promotional examinations and to recruit police applicants from the black population.