Police Instructor or Police Educator?

Authors

  • Brian R. Basham

Keywords:

police instructor, perceived barriers, qualifications, police educator

Abstract

The past few decades has seen a high degree of scrutiny on police and police instructional techniques, with various researchers recommending engagement with adult learning principles. However, what is lacking in contemporary research is any discussion about the role of police instructors and whether they are able to engage with adult learning principles. This critical essay commences that discussion and offers suggestions on how to transition the police instructor to become an effective police educator. It is argued that police instructors undertake several informal roles that are in contrast to the role of an educator; and place the police instructor in an abnormal position of power. Further, it is proposed that the current required training qualification for police instructors is an inappropriate and ineffectual qualification for police educators. This critique concludes by offering some suggestions that are likely to overcome potential barriers to increasing the competency of police instructors.

Author Biography

  • Brian R. Basham

    Brian R. Basham, BBus, Med, has worked as an operational police officer from 1986 to 1999. He has also worked as an investigator/analyst with the Royal Commission into the Building Industry; Compliance Officer for the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs; and a Fraud Investigation Team Leader with Centrelink. He is currently employed as an Educator—Law & Policy, with the Centre for Road Policing Investigation, Victoria Police. Mr Basham is undertaking studies toward the degree of Doctor of Education (DEd) at Griffith University. His research centres on the development of critical thinking in emergency services personnel.

References

Downloads

Published

2014-03-01

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Critical Essays

License

Authors retain copyright in their articles and grant SALUS the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and the journal, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.

How to Cite

Police Instructor or Police Educator?. (2014). Salus Journal, 2(1), 99-109. https://journals.csu.domains/index.php/salusjournal/article/view/issue-02-number-01-basham