Features of training of police employee in the USA

The complexities of modern policing require internal affairs agencies to expand the training opportunities for police officers to carry out the tasks assigned to internal affairs agencies. It is not enough to focus solely on the law or on perishable skills such as arrest and control; defensive tactics; driving; and firearms. This article discusses the experience of building and developing the psychological skills required by the United States police force. Police training in the United States focuses on developing the skills needed to deal with the modern challenges that arise in the performance of official tasks. Training involves building and developing skills such as cognitive, emotional, social and moral skills that can improve the condition of police officers, as well as foster relationships between police officers and members of the community. Trained police officers need to develop critical thinking skills, effective communication, and emotional intelligence. The presented article reveals professional competencies for police officers, graduates of the police academy, which were developed by the Law Enforcement Foundation in the United States (Ohio). It also discusses aspects of psychological screening developed by the California Commission on Peacekeeping Training Standards to Consider When Recruiting Police Officers. The authors emphasize that when training police officers in any country, it is necessary to pay special attention to the continuity between training and practical service activities of the police officer.

A survey of elite and pre-elite athletes’ perceptions of key support, lifestyle and performance factors

Background Success at the elite level in sport is often attributed to physical prowess, technical skill, and mental attitude. However, underpinning these factors are various lifestyle, support and social factors that may contribute to successful performance, but which may be absent from athlete development programs. Methods An online survey was used to investigate athlete perceptions of lifestyle practices and support services amongst 135 Australian Olympic, Paralympic, National, and state-level athletes across 25 Olympic sports. Results International athletes perceived psychological skills and attributes, along with strong interpersonal relationships as vital to their success, and they also rated ‘Recovery practices’ as very important and made extensive use of available support services. These athletes also indicated that they would have liked access to these services earlier in their careers, a wish that was reiterated by the sub-elite athletes. Furthermore, athletes wanted greater knowledge, mentoring, and autonomy earlier in their careers, and the importance of ‘athlete wellbeing’ as well as ‘athletic performance’ was evident in a number of contexts. Conclusions An athlete development system into which these are included may assist in generating an environment that facilitates athlete success, repeated podium performances, retain athletes in high-performance sport for longer, encourage human-flourishing, wellbeing and smooth transitions for retiring athletes.

The Problematic Experience of Players' Mutations Between Clubs: Discovering the Social Adaptability Skills Required

Objective: During their career, most players working in professional team sports move from club to club. These transitions are not always completely successful and could highly impact the route of the players' development. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the psychological processes involved when players encounter problems in adapting from one club to another. Thus, it was the aim of this study to identify the most difficult aspects of these transitions, as experienced by team sports players and the psychological skills that contribute to successful outcomes.Design and Method: The present study included twenty professional basketball players (aged between 20 and 36 years old; Mean = 26.05, SD = 4.12), who had played under different coaches (coach range 4–15; Mean = 8.65, SD = 2.92), and also played for different clubs (range 3–10; Mean = 5.35, SD = 2.08). They took part in retrospective interviews regarding their embedded experiences during club to club transitions. A situated E-approach was used to identify their problematic experiences, the adaptability skills and how they are applied during club mutations.Results and Conclusions: The identification of problematic experiences revealed seven components in relation to coaching (e.g., obeying orders, reduced play time), three components with teammates (e.g., respect), two components with the club (e.g., lack of support), and three components with family/friends (e.g., geographical constraints). Additionally, results indicated that the adaptability skills used during mutation are related to three groups namely mental skills, learning methods, and interpersonal skills. The results provide coaches, players, sports psychologists, and national sport organizations a set of issues for understanding the challenges players encounter when they move from one club to another.