Effective Police Interactions With Youth: A Program Evaluation

Abstract

This article presents evaluation results of a police training curriculum to reduce disproportionate minority contact (DMC). The Effective Police Interactions With Youth training curriculum is developed in conjunction with a police task group to address the greater proportion of minority youth entering the juvenile justice system relative to the number of White youth. A pretest-posttest experimental design that included follow-up is used to assess changes in patrol officers' knowledge of and attitudes toward youth. A total of 468 Connecticut patrol officers participate in the evaluation. Results support the effectiveness of the training curriculum in enhancing police officers' knowledge of DMC, youth behavior, and effective strategies for interacting with youth.

Improving police officer and justice personnel attitudes and de-escalation skills: A pilot study of Policing the Teen Brain

“…Post-training, PTB participants were also more likely to endorse statements about the importance of teaching justice system personnel about typical adolescent development and behavior. As in previous evaluations of pre-arrest interventions for police (Goodrich et al, 2014;LaMotte et al, 2010), the promising findings of the current study bode well for engaging future cohorts of justice system personnel in PTB training.…”

“…As in other studies of pre-arrest police officer training interventions (Campbell, 2012;Goodrich et al, 2014;LaMotte et al, 2010), our pilot evaluation of PTB did not test the effects of the training on actual behavioral change, such as rates of juvenile arrest by police participants or in vivo demonstration of de-escalation skills during actual or simulated post-training interactions with youth. Related challenges to consider echo general concerns about the utility of simulation training for police officers; the situations police officers face day-to-day vary significantly but are often emotionally charged and potentially dangerous, requiring immediate decision making and action.…”

“…Two studies of the program, "Effective Police Interactions with Youth," demonstrated support for introducing police officers to developmental information about adolescents. Compared to pre-intervention surveys, police officers' post-intervention scores on knowledge tests improved, and officers reported feeling more confident interacting with youth (LaMotte et al, 2010;Sanderson, Kosutic, Griggs, & Anderson, 2008).…”

Police officers’ implicit theories of youth offending

“…As Thurau (2009) has argued, education for police that informs officers about adolescent development and the aetiology of offending behaviour by young people will likely improve not just police perceptions of young people, but interactions between police and young people. Moreover, research clearly shows that both formal and informal police training that targets officers’ knowledge of and attitudes towards young people can have significant impacts (LaMotte et al., 2010; Schulenberg & Warren, 2009). However, police resistance to training initiatives that challenge their worldviews has been well documented (Chan, 1997), as has police reluctance to accept training from civilians or outsiders (Tallon, Spadafore, & Labriola, 2016).…”

Limited Disproportionate Minority Contact Discourse may Explain Limited Progress in Reducing Minority Over-representation in the US Juvenile Justice System

“…A thorough evaluation of the program shows that it is effective in increasing police knowledge of DMC. Police participating in the program also shifted their attitudes about juveniles to a more positive perspective (LaMotte et al, 2010).…”