scholarly journals A phenomenological exploration of how bilingual police recruits join the police community during their initial training

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kiely Frances Pepper

<p>New Zealand seeks to increase the diversity of its police organisation and this research provides an insight into perspectives of bilingual police learners. Learning to become a police officer challenges any recruit to develop academic, physical and social skills. This study examined the cultural and linguistic adaptations reported by bilingual recruits as they developed the necessary repertoire of skills to join the police community.  Through a phenomenological methodology, this research considers the rich, individual perspectives provided by three recruits about their lived experience as bilingual learners during their 19 week initial police training. Data were gathered through interviews and on-going personal journals. Two major themes emerged. The first relates to learning to be a New Zealand Police officer by envisioning themselves as a member of the professional community of the police, and also identifying with the wider culture of being a New Zealander. The second theme is personal reflection, as the participants learnt about themselves and reflected on their backgrounds through undertaking a range of activities, interacting with people, and managing emotions. These themes were further analysed against dimensions from a community of practice framework.  Participants in this study valued the support of other recruits and especially of the supervising staff. However, it appears that engagement in the police community might be further enhanced if college staff were fully aware of the linguistic and cultural demands faced by bilingual recruits who must come to terms with multiple cultures while developing their police identity.  This study highlights the need for further research on the changing identity of bilingual police officers both under training at the college and immediately after starting full-time employment.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kiely Frances Pepper

<p>New Zealand seeks to increase the diversity of its police organisation and this research provides an insight into perspectives of bilingual police learners. Learning to become a police officer challenges any recruit to develop academic, physical and social skills. This study examined the cultural and linguistic adaptations reported by bilingual recruits as they developed the necessary repertoire of skills to join the police community.  Through a phenomenological methodology, this research considers the rich, individual perspectives provided by three recruits about their lived experience as bilingual learners during their 19 week initial police training. Data were gathered through interviews and on-going personal journals. Two major themes emerged. The first relates to learning to be a New Zealand Police officer by envisioning themselves as a member of the professional community of the police, and also identifying with the wider culture of being a New Zealander. The second theme is personal reflection, as the participants learnt about themselves and reflected on their backgrounds through undertaking a range of activities, interacting with people, and managing emotions. These themes were further analysed against dimensions from a community of practice framework.  Participants in this study valued the support of other recruits and especially of the supervising staff. However, it appears that engagement in the police community might be further enhanced if college staff were fully aware of the linguistic and cultural demands faced by bilingual recruits who must come to terms with multiple cultures while developing their police identity.  This study highlights the need for further research on the changing identity of bilingual police officers both under training at the college and immediately after starting full-time employment.</p>


Author(s):  
Kenneth M Quick ◽  
Eric L Piza

This study explored the effectiveness of a novel technique for police departments to support their officers and promote wellness: the use of service dogs. We evaluated officer perceptions in two mid-sized, municipal police departments that have wellness programs with a service dog that is permanently assigned to a full-time police officer handler: Groton and Naugatuck, Connecticut. We assessed six factors believed to influence police officer wellness including: operational and organizational stress using the Police Stress Questionnaire; topical stressors including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, police use of force and community relations, and police reform efforts; Perceived Organizational Support (POS); receptivity to service dogs; and willingness to seek assistance for mental health issues. We found evidence that exposure to service dogs is significantly linked to both POS and receptivity to service dogs in policing. We also found that officer willingness to seek their department’s assistance regarding mental health approaches significance with greater exposure to the service dog ( p = .07). Although we found no significant evidence that exposure to service dogs is linked to stress reduction, we found that police reforms pose a substantial perceived stress on officers in the study. This finding presents a serious challenge for reformers that risks undermining officer wellness. Implications of our findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.


Author(s):  
Nadine Ballam ◽  
Anne Sturgess

In February 2018, a full-time provider of gifted education opened in New Zealand with its initial cohort of children. This provider catered for learners from ages 1-15 years who did not ‘fit’ in mainstream education settings. This paper reports on a research project that focused on the effectiveness of the learning approach at this school in its inaugural year. Two sources of data informed this research, including semi-structured interviews with parents and learning and support staff, and an analysis of documents related to the philosophy, curriculum, and learning approach. This paper reports on benefits and limitations of the learning approach identified by the parent participants in the study.


Author(s):  
Brian Lande

Research on the formation of police officers generally focuses on the beliefs, accounts, and categories that recruits must master. Becoming a police officer, however, is not simply a matter of acquiring new attitudes and beliefs. This article attends to an unexplored side of police culture—the sensorial and tactile education that recruits undergo at the police academy. Rubenstein wrote in 1973 that a police officer’s first tool is his or her body. This article examines the formation of the police body by examining how police recruits learn to use their hands as instruments of control. In police vernacular, this means learning to “lay hands” (a term borrowed from Pentecostal traditions) or going “hands on.” This chapter focuses on two means of using the hands: searching and defensive tactics. It describes how instructors teach recruits to use their hands for touching, manipulating, and grabbing the clothing and flesh of others to sense weapons and contraband. It also examines how recruits are taught to grab, manipulate, twist, and strike others in order to gain control of “unruly” bodies. It concludes by discussing the implications of “touching like a cop” for understanding membership in the police force.


Author(s):  
Anita Lam ◽  
Timothy Bryan

Abstract In contrast to quantitative studies that rely on numerical data to highlight racial disparities in police street checks, this article offers a qualitative methodology for examining how histories of anti-Blackness configure civilians’ experiences of present-day policing. Taking the Halifax Street Checks Report as our primary object of analysis, we apply an innovative dermatological approach, demonstrating how skin itself becomes meaningful when police officers and civilians make contact in the process of a street check. We explore how street checks become an occasion for epidermalization, whereby a law enforcement practice projects onto the skins of civilians locally specific histories and emotions. To think with skin, we focus on the narratives shared by African Nova Scotians, a group that has been street checked at higher rates than their white counterparts. By doing so, we argue that current debates about police street checks in Halifax must attend to the emotional stakes of police-initiated encounters in order to fully appreciate the lived experience of street checks for Black civilians.


Author(s):  
Linus Wittmann ◽  
Gunter Groen ◽  
Janusz Ogorka ◽  
Astrid Jörns-Presentati

AbstractEncounters between individuals with a mental disorder and police forces can be harmful and dangerous for both parties involved. Previous research explored mostly police officers’ subjective experience of these encounters and focused on their recommendations. The present study takes the perspective of individuals with a mental disorder and investigates their subjective experience of dealing with the police. Thirteen semi-structural interviews were conducted with individuals with a history of mental health problems who have had encounters with the police and experienced contact-based anti-stigmatization interventions as consultants. Interviews revolved around the subjective experience of these police encounters. Questionnaires were used to inquire about context factors, individuals’ perceptions of police officers, and their sense of security during these encounters. Furthermore, individuals were asked to rate police officers’ ability to recognize signs and symptoms of ill mental health and give recommendations in regard to adequate communication strategies, interventions, and police training. The results indicate that encounters were experienced predominantly as positive and non-threatening. Participants emphasized the importance of communication strategies with a focus on empathy and respect. Keeping personal space and satisfying basic needs was recommended. Contact-based anti-stigmatization interventions were regarded as an effective approach to reduce stigma. Empathy and respect are perceived as key strategies for police officers when dealing with individuals with a mental disorder. To promote these strategies, trialogical anti-stigmatization interventions and crisis intervention training, including communication skills and face-to-face contact, are promising approaches.


Author(s):  
Mario S. Staller ◽  
Swen Koerner ◽  
Valentina Heil ◽  
Isabel Klemmer ◽  
Andrew Abraham ◽  
...  

AbstractThe current study aims to investigate the current structure and delivery of police recruit training. Using a case study approach, we systematically observed a semester of police training that consisted of 30 h with a specific focus on police use of force training. Field notes and time-on-task data was analysed using an inductive approach. The results revealed, first, a lack of constructive alignment of the training modules and learning tasks within the training settings. Second, an adherence to traditional linear approaches to training resulting in high amounts of augmented instruction and feedback and a one-size-fits all approach to technical and tactical behaviour. Third, a non-efficient use of available training time with low amounts of engagement in representatively designed tasks that stimulated problem-solving processes. Based on these results we suggest that there is a need: (a) for police trainers and curriculum designers to align the objectives, practice structure and delivery of police training with the needs of police officers in the field (e.g. conflict resolution); (b) for police trainers to employ more learner-centred pedagogical approaches that account for individual action capabilities and resources, and allow for high amounts of training time with representatively designed training tasks; and (c) for senior managers of overall police training decision-makers to provide the necessary trainer education, in order to furnish trainers with the knowledge and tools to appropriately plan, deliver and reflect upon their practice in keeping with concept of constructive alignment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
D Zhao ◽  
E Ferdian ◽  
GD Maso Talou ◽  
GM Quill ◽  
K Gilbert ◽  
...  

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): National Heart Foundation (NHF) of New Zealand Health Research Council (HRC) of New Zealand Artificial intelligence shows considerable promise for automated analysis and interpretation of medical images, particularly in the domain of cardiovascular imaging. While application to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has demonstrated excellent results, automated analysis of 3D echocardiography (3D-echo) remains challenging, due to the lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal dropout, and greater interobserver variability in manual annotations. As 3D-echo is becoming increasingly widespread, robust analysis methods will substantially benefit patient evaluation.  We sought to leverage the high SNR of CMR to provide training data for a convolutional neural network (CNN) capable of analysing 3D-echo. We imaged 73 participants (53 healthy volunteers, 20 patients with non-ischaemic cardiac disease) under both CMR and 3D-echo (&lt;1 hour between scans). 3D models of the left ventricle (LV) were independently constructed from CMR and 3D-echo, and used to spatially align the image volumes using least squares fitting to a cardiac template. The resultant transformation was used to map the CMR mesh to the 3D-echo image. Alignment of mesh and image was verified through volume slicing and visual inspection (Fig. 1) for 120 paired datasets (including 47 rescans) each at end-diastole and end-systole. 100 datasets (80 for training, 20 for validation) were used to train a shallow CNN for mesh extraction from 3D-echo, optimised with a composite loss function consisting of normalised Euclidian distance (for 290 mesh points) and volume. Data augmentation was applied in the form of rotations and tilts (&lt;15 degrees) about the long axis. The network was tested on the remaining 20 datasets (different participants) of varying image quality (Tab. I). For comparison, corresponding LV measurements from conventional manual analysis of 3D-echo and associated interobserver variability (for two observers) were also estimated. Initial results indicate that the use of embedded CMR meshes as training data for 3D-echo analysis is a promising alternative to manual analysis, with improved accuracy and precision compared with conventional methods. Further optimisations and a larger dataset are expected to improve network performance. (n = 20) LV EDV (ml) LV ESV (ml) LV EF (%) LV mass (g) Ground truth CMR 150.5 ± 29.5 57.9 ± 12.7 61.5 ± 3.4 128.1 ± 29.8 Algorithm error -13.3 ± 15.7 -1.4 ± 7.6 -2.8 ± 5.5 0.1 ± 20.9 Manual error -30.1 ± 21.0 -15.1 ± 12.4 3.0 ± 5.0 Not available Interobserver error 19.1 ± 14.3 14.4 ± 7.6 -6.4 ± 4.8 Not available Tab. 1. LV mass and volume differences (means ± standard deviations) for 20 test cases. Algorithm: CNN – CMR (as ground truth). Abstract Figure. Fig 1. CMR mesh registered to 3D-echo.


2020 ◽  
pp. 107780042091889
Author(s):  
Erin Leach

This autoethnographic poetry collection provides an entry into the socialization of part-time doctoral students by centering the lived experience of the author, a part-time doctoral student employed full-time at the university where she studies. In the writing of this poetry collection, the author sought to enter into conversation with the doctoral socialization literature and to uncover the various parts of her fractured identity. Through an examination of her own fractured identity, the author engages with the places where scholarly identity formation is stalled in part-time doctoral students especially in comparison with their full-time peers and considers affective dimensions of the work of scholarly identity formation.


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