Summary
"Police field training programs are vital to police officer development. Although the importance of field training officer selection has been emphasized by the literature,very little research has been done in determining what recruits perceive as important and whether this perception has any relationship to field training satisfaction. This study explored the question: what are the determinants of an effective field training experience in police recruit training? Using surveys collected from 242 recent graduates of the Justice Institute of British Columbia Police Academy, the relationship between the recruit field training experience, field training officer roles and attributes, and overall recruit satisfaction was investigated. Study results suggest field training content had no significant relationship to overall satisfaction. Rather, overall satisfaction was determined by how well the field training officer fulfilled the identified roles. Furthermore, the recruits tended to overestimate the importance of some technical competencies while undervaluing the importance of interpersonal aptitude. Overall, recruit satisfaction of the field training process was high."--Abstract.