Basic school programs are designed by departments and state training agencies to address current law enforcement issues that arise and need to be addressed by police departments

Question

You are the director of training for a regional police academy and a directive has come down from the State Training Accreditation agency that you must add eight training hours to a new course entitled – Current Events/Trends and Law Enforcement. Present three new areas that could be presented in this course based on current events that impact law enforcement either in the country or in many states.

Answer 1

One has to only look at a major newspaper and media website to see that many issues need to be presented in police training. At time of this writing, there are several that could be considered from a national standpoint. Instructors may also review local issues that might impact police training.
1. Militarization of the police – based on the August 4, 2014 killing of a black 18 year old male by a white police in Ferguson MO, a number of issues have arisen on the response by area police to quell riots in riot gear and military vehicle equipment. One issue is that many departments have been able to acquire this equipment as our military continues to downsize through what is called the 1035 Program. Many critics argue that this detracts from police community relations.
2. The increased use of heroin – heroin has become a drug of choice for many middle and upper class citizens. The reasons are complex but can be traced to the heavy use of opioid prescription drugs by youths, greater enforcement of prescription drug laws, and the cheap cost and availability of the drug through gangs in Mexico and overseas in Afghanistan.
3. Bias related policing – the incident in Ferguson, MO, has once again brought the issue of relations between African American, Hispanic residents, and department and city government composed of white men. Many observers contend that the police are nothing more than an army of occupation and insensitive to the concerns of minority citizens as demonstrated by arrest rates. This has been a continuing problem in American policing for decades.