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French

ID: <

10670/1.7bpsa8

>

Where these data come from
Evaluation of police training policy. Questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with police officers recently sworn/e-s
Disciplines

Abstract

This research report was commissioned by the External Commission for the Evaluation of Public Policies of Canton de Geneva (Switzerland) as part of an evaluation of police training policy in this canton. The study shows that, in general, recent police officers consider their training positive, in particular certain elements of the educational system (duration of training, workload, trainers) and feel well prepared to manage contacts with their different audiences (in particular aggressive persons and victims of domestic violence). However, most police officers/interviewees perceive the work carried out within the services as being far from school prescriptions. They consider that the latter are not those applied by their experienced colleagues. Physical and technical matters are generally considered more useful and important than relational subjects. In this vein, a number of police officers demand less psychology. However, this is the area of relationship where judgements are most nuanced, in particular as regards knowledge to manage people with mental disorders, improve communication and manage conflicts (to the detriment of introspection). Local police lessons tend to be associated with a specialisation specific to the gendarmerie and unnecessary for new entrants, in particular inspectors. On the other hand, ethics and human rights focus on negative judgements: these courses are perceived as disseminating “good words” lent by trainers from outside the profession (if not really, at least symbolically), far removed from the reality of the profession and failing to combat prejudice, especially those based on ethnic-national origin. The study also shows that interpersonal skills and relations with different audiences are central to the assessment of the relevance of training and practice. In this respect, however, issues have been identified which pose problems (in the eyes of police officers/interviewees or in our view): little reflexivity with regard to the risks associated with the ‘facial crime’, problems with the ‘maghrébins’ and young people in groups (linked in particular to the questioning of the police authority), unpredictability of drug users and pessimistic (sometimes very low empathic) vision of drug abuse, feeling of difficulty and discomfort associated with tasks to deal with the suffering of others, relegation of most situations of domestic violence to the level of undue work, difficulties associated with contacts with persons suffering from severe psychological illnesses, and mentioning as a priority the TTI courses for the management of offensive persons (harmful).

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