A Contemporary Hybrid Approach to Recruit Training: Combining Adult Learning with Traditional (Stress) Academy

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 49 percent or almost half of police academies nationally are traditional paramilitary style or stress based. Proponents of traditional stress academies argue this type of training is needed to prepare recruits to handle stressful situations they may encounter on the job. Critics maintain it tends to have a fairly high dropout rate and fails to account for individual differences in learning styles, personalities, and interpersonal skills. This presentation will explore using a hybrid model of combining the traditional stress academy with adult learning–style training, with the goal of producing future officers who can handle both stressful encounters and daily interpersonal contacts in a confident, professional manner.