Doctoral Dissertation Research: Law Enforcement Recruitment and Training and Their Effects

在本项目中，具体参照执法人员的招聘和培训以及武力的使用，调查了招聘和培训与组织人员后续反应的关系。本文解决了三个主要问题：(1)执法部门如何决定雇佣谁？(2)执法人员如何接受使用武力的培训？(3)招聘策略和培训实践揭示了执法部门如何将人口特征和力量概念化？在执法人员使用武力的问题上，征聘和培训是没有得到充分研究的部分。通过关注招聘和培训，本研究将增加对其在解释组织人员关键行为中的重要性的学术理解。它将帮助学者、执法部门和其他利益相关者更好地理解组织变革是如何发生的。它的调查结果也将为制定征聘和培训的新办法提供重要的见解。本项目采用民族志和访谈的方法对执法部门的招聘和培训进行了研究。人种学活动包括参加招聘和招聘活动，观察课堂教学，参与培训活动，包括基于场景的培训。这40名受访者包括培训新兵、培训单位人员、招聘用人单位人员和从事常规职务的执法人员。面试采用半结构化的形式，面试者被问及关于他们的背景、职业决定、招聘和培训过程以及他们对使用武力和相关问题的看法等开放式问题。对这些反应的分析和比较，结合民族志观察，可以从理论上深入了解招募和训练对随后使用武力的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In this project, the relationship of recruitment and training to the subsequent responses of organizational personnel is investigated with specific reference to the recruitment and training of law enforcement personnel and the use of force. Three principal questions are addressed: (1) How do law enforcement departments decide whom to hire? (2) How are law enforcement officers trained to use force? (3) What do the recruitment strategies and training practices reveal about how law enforcement departments conceptualize demographic characteristics and force? Recruitment and training are understudied components of the use of force by law enforcement personnel. By focusing on recruitment and training, this study will increase scholarly understanding of their importance in explaining the critical behavior of organizational personnel. It will help scholars, law enforcement departments, and other stakeholders better understand how organizational change may occur. Its findings also will provide important insights into the development of new approaches to recruitment and training. Recruitment and training in law enforcement departments are researched in this project using the methods of ethnography and interviews. The ethnographic activities include attendance at recruiting and hiring events, observation of classroom instruction, and participation in training activities including scenario-based training. The 40 interviewees include recruits in training, personnel in training units, personnel in recruiting and hiring units, and law enforcement personnel engaged in regular duties. Interviews follow a semi-structured format, in which the interviewees are asked open-ended questions about their background, their career decision, the hiring and training process, and their opinions concerning the use of force and related issues. Analysis and comparison of the responses, combined with the ethnographic observation, allow the development of theoretical insight into the effects of recruitment and training on subsequent use of force.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.