ABSTRACT
In order to understand the diversity possible within the field of police psychology training, it is necessary to first describe the evolution and diversity of training as a concept. Webster’s New World Dictionary (Neufeldt &’ Guralnik, 1988) describes training as “to instruct so as to make proficient.” The original concept of training historically implied a trainer or teacher who imparted new knowledge to trainees or students. This concept of training, however, was inadequate and over time was enlarged to include concepts such as training in graduated steps where each piece of learning became a building block for future learning. Soon, it was discovered that a single exposure to training did not guarantee learning, which gave birth to ongoing training, refresher courses, and so on. It was recognized that some types of skills and knowledge could not be acquired through a classroom format, which gave rise to simulators, role-play training, on-the-job training, experiential training, and mastery training. The concept of training also needed to expand to include both preventative training, which developed skills to avoid a difficulty, and reactive, situation, or problem-specific training, which responded to an existing problem and attempted to correct or repair the damage. Finally, it was recognized that training individuals reached only one layer of the training pool, whereas training managers or supervisors enabled the trainers to reach not only the target individuals but resulted in a “trickle down” effect, influencing a larger percentage of the training population. The further up the organizational chain the training targets, the more widespread and effective the training can be. At these upper levels, however, the original concept of the classroom and teacher becomes even more restrictive and ineffective. When the target of change is an organization, the face of training changes even more dramatically. The teacher-student relationship becomes instead that of consultant and consultee. The means of influence becomes participation in such activities as planning committees, management consultations, recommendations, impact studies, and so on. Although the original goal of training—imparting knowledge and assisting others to become proficient—remains the same, the ways and means of training now must evolve to become extremely flexible in order to meet the changing needs of both the organizations and the individuals requiring that training.
