In the United States, certification and licensure requirements for law enforcement officers vary significantly from state to state.Jeffrey S. Magers, "Police Officer Standard and Training Commissions (POST Commissions)" in Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement: International (ed. Larry E. Sullivan: SAGE, 2005), pp. 349-351.Steven G. Brandl, Police in America (SAGE, 2015), p. 105. Policing in the United States is highly fragmented, and there are no national minimum standards for licensing police officers in the U.S.Steven M. Cox, Susan Marchionna & Brian D. Fitch, Introduction to Policing (SAGE, 2015). Researchers say police are given far more training on use of firearms than on de-escalating provocative situations. On average, US officers spend around 21 weeks training before they are qualified to go on patrol, which is far less than in most other developed countries.
Terminology The agency that establishes standards for police officer selection, training, licensure, certification, and suspension/decertification is called the police officer standards and training (POST) commission in 15 states (as of 2004), including California,Commission Policy Manual, California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (2017). Arizona,James A. Conser, Rebecca Paynich & Terry E. Gingerich, Law Enforcement in the United States (3d ed.: Jones & Barlett, 2013), p. 231. and Nevada.Nevada Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (2021). In other states, the certification body goes by a different name, such as: Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training Council, Kentucky Law Enforcement Council, Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board, Maryland Police and Corrections Training Commissions, Alaska Police Standards Council, and the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards.
History Although the Wickersham Commission established by President Herbert Hoover called in 1931 for the establishment of standards for police officers (including minimal training requirements, selection standards, physical standards, and police training before and during service), state standards for selecting and training police began to be adopted only in the latter half of the 20th century. Early advocates of professionalization and reform of police included August Vollmer of the Berkeley Police Department and O. W. Wilson of the Chicago Police Department.
The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (the first body to use the acronym "POST") was established in 1959. In the same year, New York enacted the New York Training Act, which established an advisory council to make recommendations on police training to the governor. In addition to California and New York, the states of Montana and Minnesota established their POST commissions in 1959.Model Minimum Standards, International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (revised February 2020), p. i. New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Oregon followed two years later. The 1967 Katzenbach Commission (President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice) and the 1973 National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals both encouraged establishment of a POST commission in each state to set minimum standards for selection, training, and certification. Between 1959 and 1976, 43 state police officer standards and training bodies were established.Raymond A. Franklin, Matthew Hickman & Marc Hiller, 2009 Survey of POST Agencies Regarding Certification Practices (July 2009), performed by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance. At the behest of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of State Directors of Law Enforcement Training (NASDLET) was established in 1970; the association changed its name to the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) in 1987. The last states to establish commissions were Tennessee, West Virginia, and Hawaii.
Powers and variation across states Standards for police officers are not uniform; different states have different requirements. However, the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST), a cooperative association of leaders of various state police certification and licensing programs, has published a recommended set of "model minimum state standards" in 2004. However, there is a substantial variations in standards. More progressive police departments place greater emphasis on accreditation.
Police training Initial training (police academy) A study in the year 2000 found that the minimum number of police training hours varied from 320 to 800. In some states, the minimal training time for officers set by state regulation is shorter than the training time to become a licensed barber, cosmetologist, or manicurist, although many police departments have training requirements in excess of the state minimum.Holly Yan & Alberto Mier, States require more training time to become a barber than a police officer, CNN (September 28, 2016).
In some states, the standards and certification body also directly runs the police academy. A Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) study found that as of 2013, about 4.5% of U.S. state and local law enforcement training academies were operated by a state POST commission.Brian A. Reaves, NCJ 249784: State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2013, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (July 2016). The 2013 BJS study found that academies run by state POST agencies and colleges/universities were more likely to use a "nonstress" training model (based on "academic achievement, physical training, and a more relaxed and supportive instructor–trainee relationship") as opposed to a "stress" training model (a military-style training regime based on "intensive physical demands and psychological pressure"). This contrasts with academies run by police forces, which more often are based on a stress model. Although state POST commissions run only a small proportion of police academies, POST commission-run academies have larger faculty sizes: an average of 30 full-time instructors and 81 part-time instructors, as of 2006, according to a BJS report.Brian A. Reaves, NCJ 222987: State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2006, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (February 2009, revised April 14, 2009).
In-service training requirements In some states, police officers are required to undergo continuing education ("in-service training") that is reported to and tracked by the state certifying body. Experts favor in-service training because it offers insights to police officers on newer research and best practices. However, in some states, in-service training requirements are minimal, and is frequently delivered online rather than hands-on.Martha Bellisle, Police 'woefully undertrained' on using force, experts say, Associated Press (June 12, 2020). Moreover, in some states where continuing police education is mandatory, funding for training and mechanisms for tracking compliance are lacking.
Curricula Police training curricula vary widely. Many police academies use military- or paramilitary-style training models; Rosa Brooks, an expert on policing training at Georgetown University Law Center, argues that this training model is harmful and contributes to the militarization of police.Matthew Brown, Do military-style police academies instill a mean streak in some officers?, Deseret News (June 14, 2020).Rosa Brooks, Stop Training Police Like They're Joining the Military, The Atlantic (June 10, 2020).
Between 2014 and 2017, many state legislatures adopted legislation requiring police officers to receive crisis intervention and deescalation training, which has been demonstrated to reduce police use of force.Curtis Gilbert, Not Trained to Not Kill: Most states neglect ordering police to learn de-escalation tactics to avoid shootings, APM Reports, American Public Media (May 5, 2017). As of 2017, however, 34 states do not require deescalation training for all police officers, and other states require minimal training in deescalation (for example, 1 hour per year in Georgia). While local departments can train officers in deescalation in the absence of a state mandate, many departments do not do so because of a lack of funding or trained instructors, and because of cultural attitudes among police and police leaders, such as the belief that such training is not necessary or is a criticism of policing itself. As of 2018, 27 states and District of Columbia require police officers to undergo training on interacting with individuals with mental, substance use, or behavioral disorders.
Gaps and flaws in training Because there are no federal standards for officer firearms training, standards vary by state.Martha Bellisle, AP Exclusive: Accidental shootings show police training gaps, Associated Press (December 9, 2019). In most states, officers do not receive firearms training sufficient for the proficient handling of guns in real-world scenarios. For police cadets, a total of 40 hours of initial firearms training is required in Georgia, Illinois and Indiana; 52 hours in Utah; 66 hours in Missouri; 80 hours in Florida; and 90 hours in Washington state. After initial graduation from police academy, most officers are qualified in minimal firearms proficiency only once or twice annually, and firearms skills degrade rapidly. Experts attribute these training gaps to a significant number of accidental shootings (unintentional discharges) by police officers. An Associated Press report found that there were 1,422 unintentional discharges by officers at 258 law enforcement agencies of all sizes between 2012 and December 2019, and that these unintentional discharges caused injuries (to officers, suspects and bystanders) 20% of the time and caused death 8% of the time.
Experts, such as police instructors and researchers, similarly identify training of U.S. police officers on the use-of-force techniques as inadequate. A two-year study conducted by the Force Science Institute, a Minnesota-based police research and consulting firm, found that "skills like using a baton or taking down an aggressive offender deteriorate dramatically within two weeks."
Police training in the United States has often been plagued by pseudoscience, junk science, and questionable science, with various common elements of police training being underpinned by misinformation, unsubstantiated claims, assumptions, and anecdotes.Scott O. Lilienfeld & Kristin Landfield, Science and Pseudoscience in Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 35 (10): 16, October 1, 2008.Kelly McLaughlin, Police training programs have a pseudoscience problem, Insider (June 17, 2020). Many police practices taught in training are not evidence-based or supported by empirical research. For example, the "21-foot Tueller Drill"—based on the assumption that if a suspect is "any closer than 21 feet, the person could charge before an officer could unholster their gun"—is not scientific, and its creator has said the drill should not be taken literally; nevertheless, the drill is still commonly taught in police training as a science and has been used as an argument to justify police use of force. The American Society of Evidence-Based Policing and other experts proposed evidence-based policing and the creation of an "independent, nonpartisan body providing research and education to police departments" based on rigorous evidence.
Certification